"Inside COP there are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our future seriously, pretending to take the present seriously of the people who are being affected already today by the climate crisis. Change is not going to come from inside there. That is not leadership - this is leadership," Thunberg told members of the Friday for Future movement that was inspired by the solitary protest against global warming she started every Friday outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018.
"We say 'No more blah, blah, blah, no more exploitation of people, nature and the planet...no more whatever the f**k they are doing inside there!", Thunberg emotionally concluded her speech.
Videos posted on social media showed the 18-year-old student addressing the protest near the Scottish Event Campus, where around 120 world leaders came together on Monday at the start of COP26’s two-day high-level segment.
In his welcoming speech, UK prime minister Boris Johnson warned his fellow world leaders that younger generations will not forgive them if they fail to tackle the climate crisis.