Climate demands ‘completely ignored’ at Davos

DAVOS Switzerland: Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday said calls to the corporate elite meeting in Davos to immediately disinvest in fossil fuels had been ignored. "We had a few demands (coming into the World Economic Forum). Of course these demands have been completely ignored. We expected nothing less," Thunberg told reporters in the Swiss ski resort on the last day of the conference.

Thunberg was a highlight of the 50th edition of the conference, drawing massive attention including barbs by US Secretary Steven Mnuchin who on Thursday told the teen to go "study economics". Asked about Mnuchin’s comments, the Swede said: "Of course it has no effect. We are being criticised like that all the time."

"If we cared about that, we would not be able to do what we do. We put ourselves in the spotlight." The spat between Mnuchin and Thunberg underlined the tensions over climate change at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where governments and major firms have come under pressure to act now on global warming.