ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG does not plan to attend this year’s annual United Nations climate summit, pointing to limited space for civil society representatives and greenwashing efforts by political leaders.

COP27, an international climate conference starting in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh this weekend, will see politicians, negotiators, experts, and activists convene under a stated aim to push forward on efforts to fight the climate crisis.

Thunberg, who attended last year’s convention in Glasgow, Scotland, has confirmed she will not be participating at the summit this month.

At the launch of her new book this weekend, the royalties from which are to be distributed to charities working on environmental issues, the activist said that she is “not going to COP27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited”. 

She said that the COPs are “mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing” and that they are “not really meant to change the whole system” but encourage gradual progress.

“So as it is, the COPs are not really working, unless of course we use them as an opportunity to mobilise.” 

COPs – Conferences of the Parties – are attended by countries that are signatories (parties) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to make decisions about how to address the climate crisis.

Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, are driving global temperatures upwards and are leading to devastating consequences for humans, animals and plants. These impacts are forecasted to grow increasingly worse unless humans rapidly and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to hundreds of scientists.

The UN summits are a major part of how plans to slash emissions are developed but are often criticised for falling short of necessary action and taking on corporate sponsorships with links to the fossil fuel industry or environmental damage.

At a youth protest in Glasgow last year for COP26, Thunberg said the summit was a “failure” as negotiations missed expectations for a commitment to cut out fossil fuels.

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She called the talks “a two-week long celebration of business as usual and ‘blah, blah, blah’.” 

Thunberg has also shared calls for the release of prisoners in Egypt, sharing a petition that detailed “great concern with the human rights situation in Egypt” and “restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, which risk to undermine a successful, inclusive and participatory climate summit”.

A guidance document for COP27 attendees tells participants planning to hold a protest within the summit’s designated demonstration area to notify organisers with 36 hours notice, or with 48 hours notice for marches elsewhere in the city.

Additional reporting by AFP