With COP26 coming to a close, here are five incredible quotes from climate activists and world leaders.
COP26 saw leaders from around the world gather to chart our path forward on climate action to curb emissions and address the impacts of a warming planet. As this global summit comes to a close, we want to highlight five powerful quotes from leaders and activists that highlight the imperative that we take urgent, collective action on climate change.
1. Simon Kofe, Tuvalu Foreign Minister
"We cannot wait for speeches, when the sea is rising around us all the time"
2. Greta Thunberg, Climate Activist
"The people in power can continue to live in their bubble filled with their fantasies, like eternal growth on a finite planet and technological solutions that will suddenly appear seemingly out of nowhere and will erase all of these crises just like that. All this while the world is literally burning, on fire, and while the people living on the front lines are still bearing the brunt of the climate crisis."
3. Barack Obama, Former President of the United States of America
"Saving the planet isn’t a partisan issue."
4. Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan Climate Activist
“Your actions matter. No action or voice is too small to make a difference.”
5. Colette Pichon Battle, founder and executive director of the Gulf Coast Center For Law And Policy in Louisiana
“It’s time to actually talk to each other and understand what’s happening in all of our communities. We’ve got to decolonize ourselves and understand that all these things... are rooted in an economy that has devalued our humanity.”
Find out more about Oxfam’s climate work and how you can get involved.