Climate Activist Thunberg Remains Skeptical of Results But Still Open to Meeting Biden at Cop26

Climate activist Greta Thunberg will be at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop26) and has stated that she is open to meeting world leaders, including US President Joe Biden; however, she doesn’t expect much from them.

In an interview with Covering Climate Now, Thunberg expressed her surprise and skepticism over the idea of world leaders wanting to meet with her at the Cop26, which will run from October 31 to November 12, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Swedish activist said, “I don’t see why these people want to meet with me, but yeah.”

Thunberg has grown skeptical of politicians because of the lack of real action taken to tackle the climate crisis, and how they routinely seek her out to engage in “empty talk” to score political points with voters and climate activists in what she calls “greenwashing.”

Thunberg has routinely said that results are all that matter, and that a meeting with Biden will do little to change her views on the US president’s climate change policy because it has “been so much watered down by lobbyists,” adding “we should not pretend that this would be a solution to the climate crisis.”

In her infamous speech at the Youth4Climate summit, she seemed to take aim at the US directly, saying, “build back better, blah, blah, blah. Green economy, blah, blah, blah.”

In an interview with NBC’s “Today” morning news program, when asked what words she would use to fill in the “blah, blah, blah,” line in her speech, Thunberg said, “I mainly wouldn’t want to hear words, because we’ve heard many words. As it is now, these words aren’t really leading to anything.”

Thunberg knows that her presence at the Cop26 likely won’t change world leaders’ minds, as CO2 emissions continue to rise. However, she believes that democracy remains the best way to avert a climate crisis.

“Democracy is the only solution to the climate crisis, since the only thing that could get us out of this situation is… massive public pressure,” Thunberg said.

Thunberg's message to prominent politicos has been consistent since she arrived on the world stage as an advocate for implementing comprehensive policies to combat climate change and global warming. Thunberg along with other fellow young activists began making headline news after the start of the youth-led "Fridays for Future" movement in late 2018.