Young activists plan protests to demand climate action as major events open in New York
NEW YORK — Activists prepared for protests around the world Friday to demand action on climate change, as two major climate events in a week unfolded in New York.
The planned actions in Berlin, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi and many other cities were organized by the youth group Fridays for Future, whose New York chapter planned a march on the Brooklyn Bridge followed by a rally that organizers said would draw at least 1,000 people. More protests were planned for Saturday and Sunday.
New York is hosting Climate Week NYC, an annual event that promotes climate action, at the same time as the United Nations General Assembly is tackling the issue on multiple fronts, including raising trillions of dollars to help the poorest countries suffering the most from climate change.
The New York protest was meant to target “the pillars of fossil fuels”: the companies that pollute, the banks that fund them and the leaders who are failing on climate, said Helen Mancini, an organizer and a senior at Stuyvesant High School in the city.
The youth climate protests began in August 2018 when Greta ThunbergThe then-unknown 15-year-old left school to stage a strike outside the Swedish parliament to demand climate action and an end to the use of fossil fuels.
In the six years since Thunberg founded what has become Fridays for Future, According to the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that monitors carbon pollution, global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by about 2.15%. Emissions growth has slowed compared to previous decades, and experts predict a peak soon, which is far from happening. the 43% reduction necessary to keep the temperature increase to an agreed limit.
Since 2019, carbon dioxide emissions from coal have increased by nearly 1 billion tonnes (900 million metric tonnes)while natural gas emissions increased slightly and oil pollution decreased slightly, according to the International Energy Agency. This growth was driven by China, India and developing countries.
But emissions from advanced or industrialised economies have fallen and reached their lowest level in more than 50 years in 2023, according to the IEA. Coal emissions from rich countries have fallen to levels seen around 1900 and the UK is set to hit a record high next month. is preparing to close its last coal-fired power station.
Over the past five years, clean energy sources have grown twice as fast as fossil fuels, According to the IEA, solar and wind power are individually growing faster than electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Since Thunberg began her protest six years ago, Earth has warmed by more than half a degree Fahrenheit (0.29 degrees Celsius) Last year a record was set for the the hottest year and this year is set to break that record, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European climate agency Copernicus.
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