Greta Thunberg: EU climate law is 'surrender'

"When your house is on fire, you don't wait a few more years to start putting it out. And yet, this is what the Commission are proposing today"

Transcript

00:00When your children set off the fire alarm, you went outside, took a look and smelled the air.

00:08You stated that, yes, the house is actually burning. This was no false alarm.

00:16But, then, you went back inside, finished your dinner and watched your movie and went to bed,

00:24without even calling the fire department.

00:28I'm sorry, but this makes no sense at all.

00:33When your house is on fire, you don't wait a few more years to start putting it out.

00:40And yet, this is what the Commission are proposing today.

00:47When the EU presents this climate law and net zero by 2050,

00:53you indirectly admit surrender, that you are giving up.

00:58Giving up on the Paris Agreement.

01:01Giving up on your promises.

01:04And giving up on doing everything you possibly can to ensure a safe future for your own children.

01:14Because this law is based on an insufficient CO2 budget,

01:19that, in reality, gives us much, much less than a 50% chance of limiting the global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

01:31And this is the uncomfortable truth that you cannot escape, no matter how badly you want to or how hard you try.

01:40And the longer you keep running away from that truth, the bigger your betrayal towards your own children.

01:49The EU must lead the way.

01:53You have the moral obligation to do so.

01:57And you have a unique economical and political opportunity to become a real climate leader.

02:04You yourself declared that we are in a climate and environment emergency.

02:10You said this was an existential threat.

02:14Now you must prove that you mean it.

02:18And we will not be satisfied with anything less than a science-based pathway,

02:24which gives us the best possible chance to safeguard the future living conditions for humanity and life on Earth as we know it.

02:35Anything else is surrender.

02:39This climate law is surrender.

02:42Because nature doesn't bargain, and you cannot make deals with physics.

02:54And we will not allow you to surrender on our future.