The teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has called on banks to “stop funding our destruction”, ahead of the UN COP26 climate summit.
Thunberg has traveled to London to take part in protests demanding the financial system stops funding fossil fuel projects.
The Swedish activist told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that “change is possible” at the summit, if pressure on politicians is maintained.
But she added they did not “officially” invited her to speak at the event in Glasgow.
The demonstrations against investment in fossil fuel projects come as world leaders gather in the Scottish city ahead of COP26’s opening on Sunday.
The protest in London is part of a series taking place on Friday at financial centres around the world. New York, San Francisco and Nairobi will also witness similar protests.
Campaigners are calling on banks not to lend money to companies and projects that use fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
Pope’s Message
Pope Francis has earlier urged world leaders to take “radical decisions” at next week’s global environmental summit.
The Pope talked of crises including the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and economic difficulties. He further urged the world to respond to them with vision and radical decisions, so as not to “waste opportunities” that the current challenges present.
“We can confront these crises by retreating into isolationism, protectionism and exploitation. Or we can see in them a real chance for change, he further said.
Earlier, an UN-appointed panel of experts said that the earth is getting so hot
that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past the most ambitious threshold
set in the Paris accord.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the report as a “code red” for humanity.
He stressed that it “must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy the planet.”
