‘She’s entitled to her views’: Albanese defends himself after Thunberg’s ‘snail’ jibe

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Her appearance on the sidelines of COP31 in Turkey attracted more than 100 reporters and supporters, and she was escorted out by several security guards.

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.

Her appearance on Wednesday attracted more than 100 reporters…

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