Former U.S. President Barack Obama dropped in on U.N. climate talks Monday to urge young climate activists to stay in the fight.
Obama is credited as one of the leaders responsible for the 2015 Paris climate accord.
In a speech, a roundtable and other events in Glasgow, Scotland, Obama told young people that their marches and protests have been key in forcing governments to start acting on climate.
He said that the 2015 talks in Paris and the current COP26 summit in Scotland proved that advancing climate talks is possible, but much more work needs to be done to lower emissions to acceptable standards.
"The escalation, the ratcheting up of ambition that we anticipated in Paris six years ago has not been uniformly realized," Obama said.
Obama also encouraged young people to tap into their political frustrations to fuel their passion for change.
"To all the young people out there — I want you to stay angry. I want you to stay frustrated," Obama said.
Obama also took a jab at the world's two largest nations that chose not to attend COP26 — China and Russia. He said he found it "particularly discouraging" that they decided not to participate and labeled them as "two of the world's largest emitters."
