This 18-year-old Swedish activist explains why our world leaders must urgently move beyond vague, assumed goals

Greta Thunberg was just 15 years old when she started her weekly protest outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm in August 2018 and couldn't understand why no one was talking about how serious the climate crisis we were facing was. Since then, the 18-year-old activist has sparked a global movement that has brought millions onto the streets and made her one of the most recognisable faces of the global environmental cause.

Here, Thunberg explains why she wants our leaders to stop "promising so much and doing so little" when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.

On Earth Day 2021, April 22, at a leaders' climate summit led by US President Joe Biden, countries will present new climate commitments, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

They call these supposed goals "ambitious." However, when you compare the overall best science currently available with these inadequate so-called "climate targets," it is clear that there are gaps - decades away - and that radical measures must be taken.

Of course, we welcome all efforts to guarantee living conditions in the future and in the present. Were it not for the tiny fact that these goals are full of gaps and holes, they could be a great start.

These gaps and loopholes include the omission of emissions from imported goods, international aviation and shipping, and biomass combustion, the manipulation of baseline data, the exclusion of most feedback loops and tipping points, the neglect of critical global issues in terms of equity and historical emissions, and the reliance of these targets on fantasy or virtually non-existent carbon capture technologies. But I don't have time to discuss all these issues right now.

The point is that we can continue to use creative carbon accounting and deception to pretend that these targets are what we need.

But we must not forget that although we can deceive others and even ourselves, we cannot deceive the laws of nature and physics. Whether we choose to count emissions or not, it's still there.

Yet, as now, because the gap in consciousness is so great, those in power can still stay out of it. And that is the heart of the problem.

I have met with many world leaders, and even they admit that their goals are at odds with their promises.

It's only natural. They're just doing what they think is politically feasible. Their job is to deliver on the wishes of voters, and if voters don't demand real action on climate, then of course there will be no real change.

Fortunately, this is how democracy works. The free world is governed by popular will. If we want change, then we have to spread awareness and make what seems impossible possible.

We understand that the world is complex, that many people are doing their best and that what we need is not easy.

Of course, these very inadequate targets are better than none at all. But we can't be satisfied just because something is better than nothing. We must go further than that. We have to believe that we can, because we can.

When we humans are united and determined to accomplish something, we can achieve almost anything.

"I'm not ready to give up."

When leaders present these commitments now, they acknowledge their surrender to the 1.5°C target.

They are surrendering to their promises and to our future. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not ready to give up. It never will be. We will continue to fight for a secure future. Every little bit of a degree is important, and always will be.

You can call us naive because we believe change is possible, and that's okay. But at least we are not naive enough to believe that the solution to things can be achieved by states and corporations setting vague, distant, and inadequate targets without any real pressure from the media and the public.

The gap between what needs to be done and what we actually do is widening all the time. The gap between the urgency needed and the current level of awareness and concern is becoming increasingly absurd. The gap between our so-called climate goals and the current best science overall should no longer be ignored.

These gaps in action, awareness, and time are the biggest elephant (the obvious but unspoken thing) in any room.

Until we can address this gap, there can be no real change. No solution will be found.

Our Kings have no clothing-let us expose them. And, be aware of these gaps.