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Talk by Linda (Fridays for Future)
at the climate strike on Apr 11, 2025In 2025, the Paris Agreement will be ten years old – the historic promise of all nations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
A promise for our future, for generations to come, for the preservation of our planet. And today, ten years later, we must ask ourselves: What has become of it?
Instead of doing everything possible to achieve this goal, we are witnessing massive setbacks: New oil and gas projects are being launched worldwide, fossil corporations are raking in record profits, and politicians are not just watching; they are further fueling the fire. Here in Germany as well. The new government under Merz is focusing on new gas power plants, on gas drilling in the country, on a heating law that does not reduce emissions nearly enough. The transport sector remains virtually untouched, the Germany ticket is set to become more expensive, and climate-damaging agricultural diesel continues to be subsidized. The expansion of wind power is being blocked, and the phase-out of coal has been postponed to 2038.
Meanwhile, the world is burning. 2024 was a year of climate disasters: flooded cities, burning forests, destroyed crops. Over 800,000 people lost their homes last year alone due to extreme weather. And this is just the beginning.
The climate crisis is here – here and now. And how severe this crisis will be is in our hands.
What we need now is clarity. Courage. And consistency. Germany must become climate-neutral by 2035. This means a complete exit from fossil fuels – including gas. It means that climate-friendly heating and mobility must be accessible and affordable for all. No one must be left behind – neither for financial nor political reasons.
And it also means that those who have contributed the most to the crisis must finally make their fair contribution. We demand a tax on the super-rich and fossil corporations – so that those who benefit the most are held accountable and must finance the costs of the climate consequences of the damage they have caused.
And this is not a left-green ideology. We are fighting damn hard for the basis of all our lives. For all our futures. And for justice. Because the climate crisis hits first those who have contributed the least. We fight because we have proven time and again that we can bring about change, just like in 2019 with the European Green Deal. This means: Our pressure is having an effect.
The EU has managed, through the Green Deal, to increase the expected emission reduction by 2030 from 33% (2019) to 52% – this is, although unfortunately still not enough, at least a progress that shows: Change is possible when there is political will and political pressure!
But: That is still not enough! If we take the 1.5-degree limit seriously, we must step up now. There can be no more compromises with our future. – We need real climate protection, and we need it everywhere: in Berlin, Brussels, internationally, and locally!
And that is why we say today: We remain courageous and we remain loud. We do not give up hope, and we continue to fight.
We fight for what was promised.
For real climate protection – not on paper, but in reality.
For justice – not someday, but now.
And for our future – for everyone and everywhere.
Loud, determined, and in solidarity!!!!!!!!