Who is Greta Thunberg?

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist, who has been campaigning since the age of 15.
She is well known for challenging world leaders on their approaches to the climate crisis, famously telling them at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, “How dare you!” over not taking strong enough action to tackle climate change.

Most recently, she has turned her attention to the COP26 UN climate conference to be held in Glasgow this November. Thunberg has said she does not believe Scotland is a world leader on the climate crisis. Scotland’s Climate Change Act 2019 states a desire to reach net-zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045, but also has existing plans to drill for fossil fuels in the North Sea.

Thunberg says: “I think that maybe summarises the whole situation we are in - the fact that these kind of countries who are actually hosting [COP26] is planning to actually expand fossil fuel infrastructure, to open up new oil fields, and so on.”

Other young climate activists have risen to continue shining light on the issue. Sixteen-year-old Holly Gillibrand leads Fridays for Future in Scotland, and 18-year old Isra Hirsi, the daughter of US congresswoman Ilhan Omar, is one of the co-founders of the US Youth Climate Strike.