‘Even a snail would agree’: Greta Thunberg slams Australia’s net zero pace

Antalya, Turkey: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has compared Australia’s pace of action on climate change to that of a snail, breaking her recent boycott of COP conferences to denounce this year’s leadership for losing control of rising temperatures.

Thunberg made the remarks while standing next to an Indigenous advocate from the Northern Territory, Rikki Dank, who called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “stop speaking and start listening” to calls to phase out fossil fuels during a press conference on the sidelines of COP31 in Antalya, Turkey on Thursday.

Asked whether she agreed with Dank’s remarks about Australia’s record on climate change, Thunberg said: “I think even a snail would agree with that. It’s common sense. It doesn’t get more clear than that.”

The pair were speaking on a panel of activists, including a volunteer in Nepal’s recent flash floods, who fronted a packed media scrum to rebel against the “implementation” focus of this year’s event.

Hosts Turkey and Australia, led by Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, are encouraging the rapid uptake of electrification rather than securing commitment to phasing out fossil fuels, which both countries export. The world is on track to overshoot its Paris Agreement of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.

Albanese defended Australia’s record as a climate leader on Tuesday, as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also challenged the hosts to be more ambitious in sending fossil fuels “the way of the dinosaurs”.

The prime minister pointed to Australia’s doubling of renewable energy generation in six years, as well as the country’s significant uptake of rooftop solar. He will present alongside Pacific leaders later on Thursday to encourage investment in a resilience fund to help the region deal with climate change.

Thunberg, who became famous at age 15 for her school strike for climate, spoke at COP conferences in 2018 and 2019. She has since boycotted most recent summits, citing the presence of fossil fuel lobbyists and the hosting of talks in oil-exporting states as evidence of hypocrisy.

Her appearance on Wednesday attracted more than 100 reporters and supporters, and she was escorted out by several security guards. Thunberg continued her criticism of COP from its sidelines, saying the people “least responsible for this crisis are being hit hardest and fastest”.

“We are heading towards a future … where basic necessities become luxury, and it is more clear than ever in spaces like these that the situation could not be less under control,” she said. “The planet is not dying; it is being killed, and we know by who. And is being killed by the very same people often thought to come to our rescue.”

“We are all here because we know that the climate crisis is already here and now, and it is already a matter of life and death, and these disastrous trends that we are seeing unfolding all over the world are going to continue to exponentially get worse and worse,” Thunberg said.

“We have to start acting accordingly. The actions from those in power here are completely detached from reality.”

Dank, a Gudanji and Wakaya woman, spoke after Thunberg to directly challenge Albanese. The prime minister spoke at the opening ceremony of the COP31 leaders summit on Wednesday, where he said Australia was taking the concerns of the Pacific to the world stage.

“Yesterday, my prime minister said he wanted to speak for the people of the world who needed urgent action,” Dank said.

“Whilst yes, we do need urgent action… we don’t need him to speak for us. We can speak for ourselves, and I am here today to speak.

“[Our prime minister] needs to stop speaking and start listening to our brothers and sisters across the world when they say they don’t want us to export coal, oil or gas, and the climate harms that they bring with them.”

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