The climate summit in Stockholm Greta Thunberg on the environmental conference: You think it's a joke

 

The climate summit in Stockholm Greta Thunberg on the environmental conference: You think it's a joke 

Of: 

Stefan Holm 

Published: Yesterday 22.26 

NEWS 

Greta Thunberg nobs the rostrum during the UN Environment Conference Stockholm + 50. 

Instead, she puts all her energy into Friday's big climate strike. 

- I received an invitation but declined, says the climate activist to Aftonbladet. 

The UN's first environmental conference was organized in Stockholm in 1972, and to mark the 50th anniversary, Sweden, together with Kenya, is the organizer again. 

June 2-3, environment ministers, heads of state, business leaders and other representatives of 110 member countries gather at the Stockholm Fair in Älvsjö to celebrate and, as stated on the government's website, increase the pace of the transition to a more sustainable future. 

The guest list includes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US Climate Envoy John Kerry, but they will not be joined by Greta Thunberg. She was invited as a speaker but declined. 

- First, I said that if you are to have climate activists who will give speeches, it should be the most affected who are allowed to speak. When they said it was not possible, I said I would not show up. Then they wanted me and another high-profile activist, but then it's just for the sake of appearances. Then you are not honest and then I said no. I have a platform and do not need to be heard anymore. This hyperfocus on individuals only reflects an individualistic society that does not look after everyone's best interests, says Greta Thunberg when Aftonbladet meets the world-famous 19-year-old at a hotel in the Old Town. 

Alde Nilsson, Greta Thunberg and Andreas Magnusson. Photo: BJÖRN LINDAHL 

She is accompanied by two other activists from Fridays for future, Alde Nilsson and Andreas Magnusson. Today's international youth movement is represented during the conference, but puts the most effort into a major climate strike that will take place on Friday. Speakers from Ecuador, Malaysia, Zimbabwe and Indonesia, among others, will take part. 

- We put, says Alde Nilsson, our main focus on the demonstration outside. That is our main role. There have been so many conferences and so far they have not led to anything. We see this as an opportunity to gather activists from all over the world and make the public aware of how bad Sweden's climate policy is, that we are not doing enough. We simply want to mobilize so many people and put such pressure on them that they have no choice but to act on a larger scale.  

Greta Thunberg looks at her friend, takes a sip from her brought metal bottle and speaks again. 

- You almost think it's a comedy, that they are joking when they say that we should celebrate 50 years of environmental conferences. Lol. Then they check and they actually say that they will celebrate 50 years of climate work. It's a bit funny because in the last 50 years everything has gotten much worse, at least on the environmental and climate front. In 1972 we were below 350 ppm (carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere). Now we are here, at 420 ppm. Emissions are expected to reach record levels this year as well. Yes, it's not really going in the right direction, she says. 

Annika Strandhäll. Photo: Lars Schröder / TT 

Prior to the conference, Minister of Climate and Environment Annika Strandhäll has called Sweden a pioneering country and expressed that she is proud of the role Sweden has played in international environmental and climate work. 

That pride is not shared by the activists of Fridays for future. 

- If you do as she does, excludes the majority of our emissions, you can be proud but the reality does not look like that. It is a public relations tool. The climate policy that Sweden is pursuing right now, that we say that we must become fossil-free, benefits us. That probably means, according to them, that we should switch diesel to biofuels. In the short term, this leads to increased emissions because bioenergy contains more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy than, for example, coal, although this is not included in the statistics. When we talk about climate crisis, you must somehow specify which climate crisis we are talking about. If we talk about the climate crisis that includes all our emissions, Sweden is not leading at all. If, on the other hand, we talk about the climate crisis that only contains the emissions we have not managed to outsource or negotiate in loopholes in international climate frameworks, perhaps Sweden is leading, says Greta Thunberg. 

John Kerry Photo: Alberto Pezzali / AP 

Antonio Guterres. Photo: Alastair Grant / AP