Donald Trump ‘mocks’ climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg with ‘happy young girl’ tweet

Donald Trump has been accused of mocking teenage climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg on Twitter.

After the 16-year-old angrily urged world leaders to combat climate change at a United Nations summit, the US president tweeted: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.

“So nice to see!”

Miss Thunberg, who sailed across the Atlantic in a yacht to attend the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, had repeatedly asked world leaders: "How dare you?"

She said: "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and yet all you can talk about is money. You are failing us."

Mr Trump had spent only a few minutes at the climate summit, a centrepiece of this year's UN general assembly schedule.

Miss Thunberg was caught on camera glaring at Mr Trump as he walked past her on his way to the summit.

In an impassioned speech, the 16-year-old, who has inspired a global climate strike movement, told delegates they would never be forgiven if they failed to tackle rising temperatures.

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She said she should not be up on stage, but should be in school on the other side of the ocean.

She said: "You come to us young people for hope - how dare you? You have stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words.

"People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing, we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and the fairy tale of endless economic growth. How dare you?

"How dare you continue to look away, and come here saying that you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight."

She told the gathered politicians she did not believe they understood the situation, because if they did and continued to fail to act, they would be "evil" and she refused to believe that.

The teenager set out the scale of the challenge in cutting emissions to keep temperature rises to 1.5C, beyond which scientists have warned the impacts of climate change become much more severe - warning that at current rates, the remaining budget for emissions would be used up in eight-and-a-half years.

And she warned that the situation could not be solved by "business as usual" and some technological solutions.

"The eyes of all future generations are on you. If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you."

She added: "Right now, right here is where we draw the line. The world is waking up, change is coming, whether you like it or not."

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