Climate activists gather at Trient glacier, demand 'strong' action to reduce CO2 emissions

Hundreds of climate activists reportedly gathered at Switzerland’s Trient glacier on September 6 to call for attention to the impact of climate change on Switzerland’s natural landscape. The environmentalists urged authorities to take action to reduce Co2 emissions and draw attention to the disappearance of ice shelves and glacier in the Alps and beyond. According to international media reports, over 200 people gathered at the foot of the Trient Glacier, which is situated along with one of Western Europe’s tallest mountain ranges, the Mont Blanc massif.

The protest at Trient Glacier comes one day after the Swiss parliament began debating new legislation on reducing Co2 emissions. While speaking to Reuters, Myriam Roth, who is the co-president of the Swiss Association for the Protection of the Climate, said that in the last 30 or 40 years, there are over 500 glaciers that have disappeared or are in the process of disappearing. 

She reportedly added that this kind of mobilisation, which is very public and draws a lot of people from all over, makes the urgency visible. Roth said that this reminds people that this is happening now. 

READ: Greta Documentary A Fuller Portrait Of Climate Activist

READ: EPA Chief Pledges More Cleanups, Less Focus On Climate

Activists demand ‘strong political decision’ 

According to reports, the Trient Glacier, which is sitting at an altitude of 3,000-3,200 metres, has already receded by more than 1,000 metres over the last 30 years. Similarly, Switzerland’s Turtmann Glacier, which is in the same canton as Trient, also split in two last month, losing 300,000 cubic metres in a dramatic collapse. 

The government reportedly said that 90 per cent of the 1,500 glaciers remain, including Trient, will go by the end of the century if nothing is done to cut emissions. Ivan Maillard Ardenti, whose aid group Bread for All supported the event organised by Switzerland’s environmentalists on Sunday, reportedly said that what the climate activists are asking, in the name of the Climate Alliance, is that strong political decision is taken so that Co2 emissions can be lowered 60 per cent by 2030. 

(Image: @climalliancech/Twitter) 

READ: UN Chief Urges Japan, Others To Meet Goals On Climate Change

READ: Portugal: Young Climate Activists Take 33 Countries To Court