White House adviser Ivanka Trump declined to echo her father’s criticism of climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday, instead praising the teenage protest leader for raising awareness of the issue.
The New York Times reported that Trump, who was in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, told reporters that she believes in the “power of optimism” in response to questions about Thunberg’s dire warning to world leaders at the summit.
“I’m not going to criticize anyone who’s bringing their energy and voice,” President Trump’s elder daughter added to reporters Wednesday. “That’s not my style. I think she’s elevated awareness and that’s a positive thing.”
Her remarks come after Thunberg once again excoriated global elites for their collective inaction on climate change.
“I wonder, what will you tell your children was the reason to fail and leave them facing the climate chaos you knowingly brought upon them?” Thunberg asked, according to the Times.
“Our house is still on fire,” she continued. “Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.”
The remarks follow a fiery address Thunberg gave at the United Nations in September, when she accused world leaders of “stealing” the childhood of her and other activists by forcing them to fight for action on climate change.
“My message is that we will be watching you,” she said last year. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here, I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you.”
President Trump has repeatedly mocked Thunberg for her climate activism, saying she has an “anger management problem” after she won Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” last month.
“I don’t really know anything about her,” Trump said at Davos on Tuesday, though he described Thunberg as “very angry.”