• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Greta Thunberg’s influence grows as young activist heads for US

greta thunberg

Nist called her the “deeply disturbed messiah of the global warming movement”, prompting Ms Thunberg to hit back. “I am indeed ‘deeply disturbed’ about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on,” the teenage activist wrote in a Twitter post. “Where are the adults?”

And yet Ms Thunberg’s message has resonated across much of Europe, striking a chord with young people and a public that is increasingly concerned about climate breakdown and environmental issues. This summer, the UK and France adopted targets to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and the Greens in Germany now have more political support than any other party.

Ms Thunberg’s journey to New York on board the 60ft carbon-fibre racing yacht Malizia II, with a small crew including skipper Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi, nephew of Prince Albert of Monaco, is expected to take two weeks.

“It will be quite an adventure,” she said on Wednesday as she began her journey in Plymouth on England’s south-coast. “I expect it will be challenging, maybe seasickness,” she said, before adding: “There are people in the world suffering more than that.”

Ms Thunberg is far from a household name in the US, where opinion polls show growing concern about climate change but a wide gap between Republicans and Democrats on the issue. Richard Black, director at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and author of Denied: The Rise and Fall of Climate Contrarianism, said the US’S more polarised political discourse could result in her being targeted for criticism.

“It will be interesting to see whether there is any paid-for anti Greta advocacy,” he said, pointing to the funding for anti-climate action lobbying in the US. “There will be one tranche that absolutely does not welcome her.”