Scolded for doing little, leader after leader promised the United Nations on Monday to do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels.
As they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, though, they and others conceded it was not enough. And even before they spoke, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shamed them over and over for their inaction: 91裸聊视频淗ow dare you?91裸聊视频�
Sixty-six countries have promised to have more ambitious climate goals, and 30 swore to be carbon neutral by midcentury, said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique, who is hosting the next climate negotiations later this year.
Businesses and charities also got in on the act, at times even going bigger than major nations. Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced Monday that his foundation, along with The World Bank and some European governments, would provide $790 million in financial help to 300 million of the world91裸聊视频檚 small farmers adapt to climate change. The Gates foundation pledged $310 million of that.
91裸聊视频淭he world can still prevent the absolute worst effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new technologies and sources of energy,91裸聊视频� Gates said. 91裸聊视频淏ut the effects of rising temperatures are already under way.91裸聊视频�
As the day went on Monday and the promises kept coming, the United States seemed out in the cold.
Before world leaders made their promises in three-minute speeches, the 16-year-old Thunberg gave an emotional appeal in which she scolded the leaders with her repeated phrase, 91裸聊视频淗ow dare you?91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淭his is all wrong. I shouldn91裸聊视频檛 be up here,91裸聊视频� said Thunberg, who began a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament more than a year ago that culminated in Friday91裸聊视频檚 global climate strikes.
91裸聊视频淚 should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you have come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淲e are in the beginning of a mass extinction and yet all you can talk about is money,91裸聊视频� Thunberg said. 91裸聊视频淵ou are failing us.91裸聊视频�
Later, she and 15 other youth activists filed a formal complaint with an arm of the U.N. that protects children, saying that governments91裸聊视频� lack of action on warming is violating their basic rights.
Outside experts say they heard a lot of talk Monday but not the promised action needed to keep warming to a few tenths of a degree. They say it won91裸聊视频檛 produce the dramatic changes the world requires.
91裸聊视频淪ometimes I feel that Greta is still out in front of the Swedish parliament out on her own,91裸聊视频� said Stanford University91裸聊视频檚 Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which targets carbon emissions across the world.
READ MORE: 16-year-old Swedish activist sails across Atlantic to attend climate meeting
91裸聊视频淭he ball they are moving forward is a ball of promises,91裸聊视频� said economist John Reilly, co-director of MIT91裸聊视频檚 Joint Center for Global Change. 91裸聊视频淲here the 91裸聊视频榖all91裸聊视频� of actual accomplishments is, is another question.91裸聊视频�
Of all the countries that came up short, World Resources Institute Vice-President Helen Mountford said one stood out: the United States for 91裸聊视频渘ot coming to the table and engaging.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淲hat we91裸聊视频檝e seen so far is not the kind of climate leadership we need from the major economies,91裸聊视频� Mountford said. She did say, however, that businesses, as well as small- and medium-sized countries had 91裸聊视频渆xciting initiatives.91裸聊视频�
Nations such as Finland and Germany promised to ban coal within a decade. Several also mentioned goals of climate neutrality 91裸聊视频� when a country is not adding more heat-trapping carbon to the air than is being removed by plants and perhaps technology 91裸聊视频� by 2050.
The Associated Press
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