Besides emissions, carbon must stay in ground: Thunberg

ANKARA

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Wednesday that keeping carbon in the ground is needed, as reducing emissions is not enough.

"We need is real drastic emission cuts at source, but of course just reducing emissions is not enough. Our greenhouse gas emissions has to stop. To stay below 1.5 degrees, we need to keep carbon in the ground," Thunberg, 16, said at the UN's COP25 climate talks in Spain’s capital Madrid.

Slamming leaders and corporations for ducking hard choices, she said countries find "clever ways" to avoid taking real steps to fight climate change.

Blasting moves such as "double-counting emission reductions and moving their emissions overseas, walking back their promises to increase ambitions, and refusing to pay for the solution or loss and damage," she said this has to be stopped.

"What politicians and CEOs [do is] making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from 'clever' accounting and creating PR," she said.

Just weeks before the start of 2020, she said the new year could bring hope that people can change and are ready for change.

"Every great change throughout the history has come from the people. We do not have to wait. We can start the change right now, we, the people," she added.

Thunberg was named Time's Person of the Year earlier on Wednesday.

The two-week COP25 UN climate summit began in Madrid on Dec. 2, with world leaders and activists holding talks on tackling climate change.

COP25 -- set to end this Friday -- is the final such conference before 2020, when many nations must submit new climate action plans.