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Greta Thunberg slams Joe Biden for not being ‘in line with science on climate crisis’ after endorsing him in 2020

The 18-year-old firebrand, who had endorsed Biden in 2020, was asked to grade the new president on how his administration was handling the issue of climate change

President Joe Biden isn't doing enough to "treat the climate crisis like a crisis" and is “not nearly enough in line with the science” on the issue, according to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The 18-year-old firebrand, who had endorsed Biden in 2020, was asked to grade the new president on how his administration was handling the issue of climate change.

“​Well, you shouldn’t take that from me, I’m just a teenager, so I’m not — I don’t have the mandate to sort of give grades like that. My opinions on this doesn’t matter,” Thunberg said during an appearance on MSNBC Sunday night. “​​You should rather look at the science and whether his policies are in line with the Paris agreements and to stay below 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius, and then you can clearly see that, no, it’s not nearly enough in line with the science. That’s not me saying, that’s just black and white, looking at the facts​."

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MSNBC host Mehdi Hassan attempted to list some of Biden's accomplishments, saying he had rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and started to roll back some of former President Donald J. Trump's environmental policies. Hassan then asked Thunberg what she would suggest Biden do.

“I would just like you to basically just treat the climate crisis like a crisis. They have said themselves that this is an existential threat,” she responded, saying Biden isn’t handling it as it should be. “They are just treating the climate crisis​ ​as it was a political topic, among other topics, and, yeah, treat it as a crisis, that’s the No. 1 step​," she added.

Thunberg did not reveal what she would suggest Biden do to fight climate change, but said the top priority was getting more people involved. “So what we need now is to raise awareness and to create public opinion to treat the crisis like a crisis. Because if people are not aware of the crisis that we face, of course, they wouldn’t put pressure on the elected leaders. So I would just tell him to, to tell the situation as it is,” she continued. 

Furthermore, Thunberg said leaders who complained they could do nothing to change environmental policy did so due to the lack of adequate support. “Well, how can you expect support and pressure from voters if you are not treating the crisis like a crisis. Since the climate crisis doesn’t exist, how can we expect people to want climate action,” she said.

On Twitter many nodded in agreement with Thunberg, criticizing the Biden administration for not treating "the climate crisis as a crisis."

"Greta knows that Biden just uses Climate Change as a political tool. You can't expect more from a mere politician. I mean, getting elected is all they want and know how to do effectively. Very little other factors play in favor for Joe Biden," one wrote.

"@POTUS @JoeBiden she’s not wrong and you need to do more than simply. Reverse what trump did by leaving the Paris agreement. Treat the climate crisis AS a crisis. #FightFor1Point5," another added.