Opinion | COP26: No more empty talk, we need climate change action

Greta Thunberg says the young are sick of ‘blah blah blah’ and she’s right. The technology and know-how to tackle climate change already exist

However, change cannot come without political will and public support, a crucial mindset barrier

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A young boy holds a sign outside a park during a climate change strike in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 29, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 1:30am, 9 Oct 2021Updated: 5:10pm, 31 Oct 2021

At the end of this month, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) will begin. Expectations are high that something will be done to improve the Paris 2015 commitments.

Last week, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg threw down the gauntlet in her opening speech at the Youth4Climate summit in Milan: “We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action”.

Climate action optimists welcome US President Joe Biden’s commitment to double US aid to developing countries on climate action. Chinese President Xi Jinping has agreed to stop financing new coal projects abroad.

This week, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor promised in her policy address to spend HK$240 billion (US$30.8 billion) and create an Office of Climate Change and Carbon Neutrality to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This is welcome news.

Climate activists like Thunberg are justifiably disillusioned. They feel betrayed by public leaders who repeat electoral promises that widen social inequalities, and leave growing debt and planetary damage for coming generations. They see businesses pushing planet-destroying consumerism.

More corporate leaders have moved from denial to greenwashing their corporate strategies through environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting. Funeral directors see calamities and deaths as profit opportunities.