Some organisers at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting have disclosed that Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg is set to meet International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol in Davos on Thursday.
In a statement, the organizers said that Thunberg- who was released by police on Tuesday after being detained alongside other climate activists during protests in Germany- would attend the meeting with the IEA boss accompanied by fellow campaigners Helena Gualinga, Vanessa Nakate and Luisa Neubauer.
“Yesterday I was part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening,” she tweeted, adding: “Climate protection is not a crime.”
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Already, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore has expressed support for Thunberg’s efforts in Germany and said the climate crisis was getting worse faster than the world was tackling it.
โWe are not winning,” Gore said. “The crisis is still getting worse faster than we are deploying these solutions,” Gore told a WEF panel in Davos, highlighting a growing gap between those โold enough to be in positions in power and the young people of this worldโ.
Climate change is one of the main items on the agenda for this year’s meeting, which has already seen protests against the role of big oil firms, with activists saying they are hijacking the debate over how to address global warming.
A “cease and desist” notice sponsored by Thunberg, Nakate, Neubauer and Gualinga through the non-profit website Avaaz has been promoted by a social media campaign this week as pressure to mount on oil and gas companies which have said that it needs to be part of the energy transition as fossil fuels will continue to play a major role in the world’s energy mix as countries shift to low carbon economies.
The call, which has garnered more than 850,000 signatures, demands that energy company CEOs “immediately stop opening any new oil, gas, or coal extraction sites, and stop blocking the clean energy transition we all so urgently need”.
It threatens legal action and more protests if they fail to comply.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
