Greta Thunberg has spoken to the US Congress and called for “to start treating the climate crisis as a crisis”

The environmental activist Greta Thunberg he slammed politicians with scathing remarks to a US congressional panel on Thursday, accusing them of “ignoring” the climate crisis, in a speech calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies.

“How long do you think you can continue to ignore the climate crisis, global fairness and historic emissions without being held responsible?The 18-year-old Swede told the House Monitoring and Reform Committee over a remote video link.

“They still have time to do the right thing and save their legacy”

“Now they are doing it, but sooner or later people will realize what they have been doing all this time.“Said Thunberg on Capitol Hill, in parallel with the summit which brings together some forty leaders led by the President of the United States, Joe Biden. “They still have time to do the right thing and save their legacy,” he told politicians.

The presentations coincided with the Earth Day Climate Summit, at which President Joe Biden pledged to meet aggressive new emission reduction targets. As leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping, India Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin expressed their commitment to cut emissions, Thunberg said global action was still far from where it should be.

Thunberg particularly criticized the continuation of fossil fuel subsidies, which have existed in the United States for more than 100 years, even though Washington pledged in 2009 to end them. “We are in 2021. It is a shame that we still have this discussion and more so that we continue to subsidize fossil fuels directly or indirectly with taxpayer dollars.“He said.” This is proof that we have not understood the climate emergency at all, “he added.

He also directly accused the current generation of politicians of “giving up without even trying.” “I am here to tell you that, unlike you, my generation will not give up without a fight,” he warned.

“We have to start treating the crisis as a crisis”

Congressman Ro Khanna, who chairs the environmental subcommittee Thunberg testified to, said he and other House Democrats support ending billions of dollars in subsidies in the next ongoing infrastructure package. “What he’s going to do is stop taxpayer subsidies from paying lobbyists and wealthy executives,” he said.

Before the international meeting organized by the White House, the Swedish activist had already expressed her doubts about the commitment of governments. “We can celebrate any highs we want […] (but) until we deal with the crisis as such, we will not be able to make a significant change, “she said a few days ago at a World Organization briefing. (WHO) on the COVID pandemic, to which she was invited.

“We cannot try to resolve this crisis with the same approach that we started with. We have to start treating the crisis as a crisis, ”added Thunberg.

(With information from AFP and Reuters)

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