"Long frustrated by the slow pace of climate action and what they view as the tendency among the United Nations' members to cave to industry interests, the gathered activists found little to be optimistic about in the opening ceremonies of the summit this year, where world leaders spoke repeatedly about the complexity of the negotiations and the need for compromise.

These activists are no longer interested in compromise, and, on Tuesday, they delivered the People's Demands for Climate Justice, an official list of climate action demands that organizers say are endorsed by 330 organizations and hundreds of millions of people from 129 countries. Still, these fundamental concerns too often go overlooked in the negotiations at events like COP24. Phillip Brown, a COP24 delegate for the youth-led non-profit SustainUS, set the tone for the action event: 'We've been negotiating in these halls for over 24 years,' he told the crowd, 'and global leaders continue to fail us.' "