Youth activists petition UN to declare ‘systemwide climate emergency’
Exclusive: Greta Thunberg among young people filing legal suit for climate crisis to be declared a global level 3 emergency.
Greta Thunberg and youth climate activists from around the world are filing a legal petition to the UN secretary-general urging him to declare a “system-wide climate emergency”.
As Cop26 enters its final days, climate campaigners were due to file a legal document on Wednesday calling on António Guterres to use emergency powers to match the level of response adopted for the coronavirus pandemic by pronouncing the climate crisis a global level 3 emergency – the UN’s highest category.
As well as the Swedish climate campaigner – who on Friday declared Cop26 “a failure” and a “greenwash festival” as she called for drastic annual emissions cuts addressing protesters in Glasgow – the group of 14 includes Ranton Anjain and Litokne Kabua from the Marshall Islands, Ridhima Pandey from India, Alexandria Villaseñor from the US and Ayakha Melithafa from South Africa.
