Glasgow, UK - Former President Barack Obama took the stage at COP26 on Monday, urging the world to "step up now" in a challenge that doesn't care about "party affiliation."

The day belonged to Pacific Islanders, who are among the most vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Sheila Babauta, who represents the Marianas islands and the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, has experienced this up close on her home island Saipan, which has seen storms evolve into unpredictable super typhoons.

She welcomed Obama to the stage, who acknowledged her and other young leaders' efforts.

Environment and Climate Two dead as "bomb cyclone" storm pounds western US

Even though the former president claimed the world is moving forward against climate change, he also said that "collectively and individually, we're still falling short" of what needs to be done to take climate action.

In an honest take, he admitted to sometimes getting creeping visions of dystopia which make him feel hopeless. But he also said that giving in to despondency is not an option, and urged delegates to stay committed to working just as hard as young people, who "have more stake in this fight than anybody else."

Obama then used the rest of his speech to address young people directly, and amidst examples of young climate activists, he had a piece of advice for young people who are "right to be frustrated" and "angry with old people" for their failure to take the fight against climate change seriously: get busy, and go vote the issue.

As if to highlight Obama's point that not enough is being done in the fight against global warming, pollution in India's capital New Delhi, reached levels 12 times higher than what is considered safe for a fourth day in a row – just as Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi set an extremely late goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070.

Meanwhile, the UN has tried to incorporate natural gas into its list of "green" energy technologies, which received massive pushback for the glaring contradiction.

As indigenous climate justice activist Ruth Miller told TAG24 after the #youth4climate conference in Milan, natural gas will likely remain necessary for developing countries as they transition to renewable generation technologies.

However, that doesn't mean fossil fuel could ever be counted as "green", and the UN's attempts to classify it as such were met with sharp criticism and threats of investor backlash.

This all points to a pretty big flaw in Obama's speech. Though full of hope and welcome honesty, it shifted the responsibility, once again, onto young people to stop climate change, even though they are literally in the worst position to do so when compared with the fossil fuel lobby, world governments, and giant tech companies.