Negotiators at a crucial United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, have released a first draft of the COP26 “final decision text” — and it’s being blasted by environmentalists as “exceptionally weak.” Greenpeace noted the 850-word document fails to acknowledge that fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis, while making no commitment to tangible actions to end global reliance on coal, oil and gas. The draft text’s release came as former President Barack Obama traveled to Glasgow, where he called on world leaders to step up their actions to avert climate disaster, while blasting China and Russia for hindering progress on the climate emergency. Mitzi Tan, a youth climate activist from the Philippines, said Obama’s words ring hollow. 

Mitzi Tan: “The U.S. is the country that is historically most responsible for the climate crisis, and yet they have barely done anything. They have promised so much, they have pledged so much, but they’re still not doing enough. Even their pledges, which they don’t even have actual milestones to get through and plans to get through, aren’t enough, considering the amount of emissions, amount of pollution, amount of injustices that they have done to the rest of the world.”

Click here to see our extended interview with Mitzi Tan.

This comes as a Washington Post investigation has found most countries’ pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are built on flawed data. The Post examined 196 country reports and found a giant gap between what nations declare their emissions to be versus the greenhouse gases they are actually sending into the atmosphere.