Thunberg tells Cop31 the planet is 'being killed' as island nations plead for action

Speaking to a crush of press on the sidelines of the Cop31 summit in Antalya, Turkey, Greta Thunberg said the planet is not dying but is being killed, and that the culprits are the very same people expected to come to our rescue. She declared that no one is coming to our rescue, adding that when human rights are threatened by states and other institutions, it is a duty to stand up and fight for them. It is her first Cop since 2021, when she dismissed the talks as worth nothing more than blah, blah, blah.

Leaders from countries on the front line of the crisis used their speeches to demand action now. Mali's prime minister Abdoulaye Maiga said nations that contributed least to climate change should not bear the brunt, and that his people should not be burdened by the debt of fighting it. He described the planet as very sick and in need of a remedy, warning that tomorrow will already be too late. Seychelles vice president Alix Sebastien Pillay said his 115-island nation's survival is at stake and it is time to move past the talking.

Palau's president Surangel Samuel Whipps Jr told the summit the 1.5C goal is slipping away. Recalling Cop26 in Glasgow, he said he had told the room then that they might as well bomb his country, which would have been easier than watching climate change tear apart homes piece by piece. He said the world is at war with a crisis it did not create, a war no peace treaty can end and only urgent action can.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, attending the conference for the first time in that role, called climate change a national security issue, saying the crisis is upon everyone now and devastating lives and livelihoods everywhere. Campaigners accused his government of deprioritising the green agenda and said he must do more to bridge what they called the widening chasm between words and deeds.

A new Climate Action Tracker report released during the talks warns of an irrecoverable overshoot on dangerous warming unless governments reject fossil fuels and cut emissions fast, finding collective climate action has stalled for a fifth straight year. It notes clean electricity met all additional global power demand in 2025, with record renewables deployment in China and India, new highs for electric vehicles and sharply falling Amazon deforestation. Even so, current policies put the world on track for 2.7C of warming by 2100, up from 2.6C last year, while meeting Paris Agreement targets for 2030 and 2035 still leaves warming at 2.6C. The most optimistic scenario, with all pledges and net zero targets met, lands at 1.9C by the end of the century.

Thunberg appeared alongside activists from Nepal, Australia, Palestine and Canada, who called on Turkey to stop energy shipments to Israel. She described Israel's military actions in Gaza as a genocide, an accusation Israel has staunchly denied. Cop31 is co-hosted by Turkey and Australia, both coal-dependent nations, and Ankara has drawn criticism for announcing new oil field discoveries during the summit. Turkey did not invite the Israeli government to the leaders' summit, and environment minister and Cop president-designate Murat Kurum said there can be no climate justice where peace does not prevail.