Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has criticized the United Nations' annual climate summits as "greenwashed circuses" as she arrived in Antalya, Turkey, for the COP31 conference.
Thunberg, who has not attended the conferences since Glasgow in 2021, arrived late to the talks. She said the summits are not enough to prevent a climate catastrophe, and that host country Turkey is violating many basic human rights.
Many fellow activists have grown disillusioned because the process has produced few major breakthroughs in recent years, and fossil fuel-producing nations often stall progress on cutting emissions.
Observers expect few significant developments from COP31. Countries are dealing with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions linked to the US war with Iran and Russia's war in Ukraine.
