Climate activist Greta Thunberg expressed hope on Friday UN-sponsored climate talks that kicked off in Madrid will "lead to something concrete" as she stressed the need for governments around the world to act now in the fight against climate change.
The Swedish teen said that despite mass climate protests around the world over the past year, no real action has been taken.
We have been striking now for over a year and still basically nothing has happened," she told media in the Spanish capital.
"The climate crisis is still being ignored by those in power and we can't go on like this."
When asked about the achievements of the global climate movement, Thunberg said that apart from raising public awareness about climate change "we have achieved nothing." Emissions worldwide have gone up 4 percent since the Paris Agreement in 2015. Statistics NZ data suggests New Zealand's emissions have remained static.
She also acknowledged that holding weekly mass protests in which school children are taking part is not sustainable.
"We cannot go on like that. So we don't want to continue. So we would love some action from the people in power. I mean, because people are suffering and dying from the climate ecological emergency today, and we cannot wait any longer."
Thunberg, 16, went on to blame people who "want everything to continue like now":
"They are afraid of change. And change is what we, young people, are bringing. And that's why they are trying to silence us. And that is just a proof that we are having an impact, that our voices are being heard since they try so desperately to silence us."
Thunberg arrived in Madrid earlier on Friday (local time) to join thousands of other young people in a march to demand world leaders take real action against climate change.
A report this week found only two countries in the world are doing enough to stop runaway global warming in the coming decades - and New Zealand is not one of them.
APTN / Newshub.
