Greta Thunberg quotes

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist, internationally recognized for her efforts to combat climate change. Her speeches and school strikes have inspired millions of young people worldwide to demand urgent climate action. She continues to be a leading voice in the global environmental movement. Here are 126 of her quotes:

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.

Greta Thunberg

For way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We are striking because we have done our homework and they have not.

Greta Thunberg

I think it is insane that people are gathered here to talk about the climate and they arrive here in private jets.

Greta Thunberg

People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

Greta Thunberg

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it's too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.

Greta Thunberg

I have Asperger's syndrome and that means I'm sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances - being different is a superpower. It makes you think differently. And especially in such a big crisis like this one we need to think outside the box. We need to think outside our current system, that we need people that think outside the box and who aren't like everyone else.

Greta Thunberg

We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again. You've run out of excuses and we're running out of time. We've come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.

Greta Thunberg

Here is my speech from the Brilliant Minds conference in Stockholm. Since I don't have the video yet, I'm sharing it like this. Around the year 2030, we will be in a position where we probably set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilization as we know it. That is unless in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of industrialized society have taken place. Including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%. And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale. Furthermore these scientific calculations do not include most unforeseen tipping points and feed back loops. Nor do these calculations include already locked in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Nor the aspect of equity, which is absolutely necessary to make the Paris Agreement work on a global scale. And these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.

Greta Thunberg

I am pleased to announce that I've decided to go net-zero on swear words and bad language. In the event that I should say something inappropriate I pledge to compensate that by saying something nice. #COP26.

Greta Thunberg

For 25 years, countless of people have stood in front of the United Nations Climate Change conference asking our nations' leaders to stop the emissions. But clearly this has not worked, since the emissions just continue to rise. So I will not ask them anything. Instead, I will ask the people around the world to realize that our political leaders have failed us, because we are facing an existential threat and there is no time to continue down this road of madness.

Greta Thunberg

I often talk to people who say, ‘No, we have to be hopeful and to inspire each other, and we can't tell [people] too many negative things' . . .  But, no - we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to tell, then what should we do, should we spread false hope? We can't do that, we have to tell the truth.

Greta Thunberg

We have lots of unions who are planning to strike, so, I mean, adults striking from their work. And that is so incredibly important to show that this is such an - this is not just for children or teenagers. This is for everyone. And what we are doing, we are not, of course - I mean, we are striking to disrupt the system...

Greta Thunberg

We are facing an existential crisis... it will have a massive impact on our lives in the future, but also now, especially in vulnerable communities. And I think that we should wake up, and we should also try to wake the adults up, because they are the ones who - their generation is the ones who are mostly responsible for this crisis, and we need to hold them accountable.

Greta Thunberg

School strike week 43. And even though summer holidays are here and school is over, we go on. #fridaysforfuture #schoolstrike4climate #climatestrike.

Greta Thunberg

I would like to say something that I think people need to know more than how I deal with haters.

Greta Thunberg

Because you grown-ups don't give a damn about my future, neither do I. My name is Greta, I am in ninth grade, and I am going on strike from school for the climate.

Greta Thunberg

We say no more blah blah blah. No more exploitation of people and the nature and the planets ... no more whatever the fuck they are doing inside there.

Greta Thunberg

We are sick and tired of it and we are going to make the change whether they like it or not ... We are not going to let them get away any more.

Greta Thunberg

Whether or not you choose to rise to that challenge is up to you. Either way, history will judge you.

Greta Thunberg

We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today. You have the resources and possibilities to change the story overnight.

Greta Thunberg

The media must hold the people in power accountable for their actions, or inactions.

Greta Thunberg

If you want to truly cover the climate crisis, you must also report on the fundamental issues of time, holistic thinking and justice.

Greta Thunberg