These inspirational Greta Thunberg quotes on climate change will inspire you to fight for the right thing.
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg was born on 3 January 2003 is a Swedish environmental activist. She is famous for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
A teenage climate activist who started protesting outside of Sweden’s parliament at the age of 11. As her profile grew, she began to attract media attention, and she has since become one of the most prominent figures in the global movement against climate change.
Thunberg’s journey began when she influence her parents to change their life choices that reduced their own carbon footprint. She is also the founder of the ‘school strike for climate‘ movement. She inspired students all over the world at just the age of 15 to go on strike from school to protest.
She has spoken at the UN Climate Change Conference in New York (2018) and at the World Economic Forum in Davos (2019). She has won several honors and awards including the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots activism.
Thunberg has also been on the list of 100 most influential people in Time magazine and The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Forbes list in 2019.
Being the nominated candidate for the Nobel Peace award for consistently 2019, 2020, and 2021, Thunberg continues to fight for climate change.
Here we are sharing a collection of Greta Thunberg quotes on climate change to inspire you to do the same.
Greta Thunberg Quotes
“Everyone and everything has to change so why waste precious time arguing about what and who needs to change first?” – Greta Thunberg
“The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say – we will never forgive you.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are not just some young people skipping school. Or some adults not going to work. We are a wave of change.” – Greta Thunberg
“We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis.” – Greta Thunberg
“Avoiding catastrophic climate breakdown is to do the seemingly impossible. But that is what we have to do.” – Greta Thunberg
“Solving the climate crisis is the greatest, most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever faced.” – Greta Thunberg
“Our house is on fire. I am here to say our house is on fire. According to the IPCC, we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes.” – Greta Thunberg
“If your house is on fire you run outside and make sure that everyone is out while you call the fire department. That requires some level of panic.” – Greta Thunberg
“You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess. Even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.” – Greta Thunberg
“If solutions within this system are so impossible to find then maybe we should change the system itself.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Quotes On Climate Change
“The world is waking up. Change is coming, whether you like it or not.” – Greta Thunberg
“You don’t listen to science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before.” – Greta Thunberg
“We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases.” – Greta Thunberg
“Most of us don’t know any of the basic facts – because how could we? We have not been told. Or more importantly, we have never been told by the right people.” – Greta Thunberg
“Unite behind the science – make the best available science the heart of politics and democracy.” – Greta Thunberg
“You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess. Even when the only sensible thing to do is to pull the emergency brake. – Greta Thunberg
“What is the point of learning facts when the most important facts clearly mean nothing to our society?” – Greta Thunberg
“We are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.” – Greta Thunberg
“I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science.” – Greta Thunberg
“Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Famous Quotes
“Countries are finding clever ways around having to take real action. Like double-counting emissions reductions and moving their emissions overseas.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are not ruining the biosphere and future living conditions for all species because we are evil. We are simply not aware.” – Greta Thunberg
“I have a dream that the people in power, as well as the media, start treating this crisis like the existential emergency it is.” – Greta Thunberg
“I know we need a system change rather than individual change, but you cannot have one without the other.” – Greta Thunberg
“The bigger your carbon footprint is, the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform the bigger your responsibility.” – Greta Thunberg
“I agree with you, I’m too young to do this. We children shouldn’t have to do this. But since almost no one is doing anything, and our very future is at risk, we feel like we have to continue.” – Greta Thunberg
“I know you didn’t travel here to see a 16-year-old girl who says strange and uncomfortable things. But you know what? We need to dare to be uncomfortable. We need to be brave enough to say and do things that may not increase our profits or our popularity.” – Greta Thunberg
“Perhaps the most dangerous misconception about the climate crisis is that we have to “lower” our emissions. Because that is far from enough. Our emissions have to stop if we are to stay below 1.5-2C of warming.” – Greta Thunberg
“We have never been told the meaning of the aspect of equity in the Paris Agreement and why it’s so important. We have never been taught about feedback loops or tipping points or what a runaway greenhouse effect is.” – Greta Thunberg
“We should no longer only ask: “Have we got enough money to go through with this?” but also: “Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?” That should and must become the centre of our new currency.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Quotes and Slogan
“If there really was a crisis this big, then we would rarely talk about anything else. As soon as you turned on the TV, everything would be about that. Headlines, radio, newspapers. You would almost never read or hear about anything else.” – Greta Thunberg
“Many people love to spread rumors saying I have people ”behind me” or that I’m being ”paid” or ”used” to do what I’m doing. But there is no one ”behind” me except for myself.” – Greta Thunberg
“I ask you to stand on the right side of history.” – Greta Thunberg
“We showed that we are united and that we, young people, are unstoppable.” – Greta Thunberg
“Some people mock me for my diagnosis. But Aspergers is not a disease, it’s a gift.” – Greta Thunberg
“Change is coming, whether you like it or not. ” – Greta Thunberg
“We will make those most responsible for this crisis accountable.” – Greta Thunberg
“The bigger your carbon footprint is, the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform the bigger your responsibility.” – Greta Thunberg
“To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly impossible.” – Greta Thunberg
“And since our time is running out we have decided to take action. We have started to clean up your mess and we will not stop until we are done.” – Greta Thunberg
Quotes From Greta Thunberg
“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” – Greta Thunberg
“Stop telling people that everything will be fine when in fact, as it looks now, it won’t be very fine. This is not something you can package and sell or ”like” on social media.” – Greta Thunberg
“I want you to act as if the house is on fire because it is.” – Greta Thunberg
“At places like Davos people like to tell success stories but their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag.” – Greta Thunberg
“Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.” – Greta Thunberg
“This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. We need to treat it accordingly so that people can understand and grasp the urgency. Because you cannot solve a crisis without treating it as one.” – Greta Thunberg
“Even though we need to embrace every bit of new clean technology, we can no longer look away from the obvious fact we also need to change our behavior and some more than others.” – Greta Thunberg
“And yes, we do need hope, of course, we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.” – Greta Thunberg
“If you still say we are wasting valuable lesson time then let me remind you that our political leaders have wasted decades through denial and inaction.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people. Now is not the time for speaking politely. Now is the time to speak clearly.” – Greta Thunberg
Quotes By Greta Thunberg
“The richest 10 percent of the world’s population emits about half of our greenhouse gas emissions. The richest one percent emits more than the poorest 50 percent.” – Greta Thunberg
“The danger is when politicians and CEOs make it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR.” – Greta Thunberg
“But this is not the time and place for dreams. This is the time to wake up. This is the moment in history when we need to be wide awake.” – Greta Thunberg
“In the words of author Alex Steffen ‘winning slowly is the same as losing.’ The longer we wait the harder it will be to turn this around.” – Greta Thunberg
“The science is clear and all we children are doing is communicating and acting on that united science.” – Greta Thunberg
“If you belong to that small group of people who feel threatened by us then we have some bad news for you. This is only the beginning. Change is coming whether they like it or not.” – Greta Thunberg
“We must acknowledge we do not have the situation under control and we don’t have all the solutions yet.” – Greta Thunberg
“The biggest source of hope and easiest solution is right in front of you and has been all along. It is us people, and the fact we don’t know.” – Greta Thunberg
“Today we use 100 million barrels of oil every day. There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground. So we can’t save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change.” – Greta Thunberg
“I’m sorry but saying everything will be alright while continuing to do nothing at is not hopeful to us. In fact, it’s the opposite of hope. Yet this is exactly what you keep doing.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Climate Change Quotes
“But the worst part is you are normalizing this extreme lifestyle. People look up to you. You are the role models. You are setting the standards. People aspire to be like you.” – Greta Thunberg
“How can we expect countries like India or Nigeria to care about the climate crisis if we who already have everything don’t care even a second about it, or about our commitments to the Paris agreement.” – Greta Thunberg
“We have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not.” – Greta Thunberg
“In the words of author Alex Steffen ‘winning slowly is the same as losing.’ The longer we wait the harder it will be to turn this around.” – Greta Thunberg
“Our school strike has nothing to do with party politics. Because the climate and the biosphere don’t care about our politics and our empty words for a single second. They only care about what we actually do.” – Greta Thunberg
“Avoiding catastrophic climate breakdown is to do the seemingly impossible. But that is what we have to do.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are social animals. We are naturally drawn to our leaders.” – Greta Thunberg
“Solving the climate crisis is the greatest, most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever faced.” – Greta Thunberg
“The main solution is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop the emission of greenhouse gases.” – Greta Thunberg
“When I was 8 years old I remember thinking it was very strange that humans could be capable of changing the Earth’s climate. Because if we were and if it was really happening we wouldn’t be talking about anything else. But no one ever talked about it.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Funny Quotes
“Some people say that I should study to become a climate scientist so that I can ”solve the climate crisis”. But the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.” – Greta Thunberg
“Nor does anyone ever speak about the aspect of equity or climate justice, clearly stated in the Paris agreement, which is absolutely necessary to make it work on a global scale.” – Greta Thunberg
“They keep saying that climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all. And yet they just carry on like before. If the emissions have to stop then we must stop the emissions. To me, that is black or white.” – Greta Thunberg
“If you look through history, all the big changes in society have been started by people at the grassroots level. No system change can come without pressure from large groups of individuals.” – Greta Thunberg
“Even though we need to embrace every bit of new clean technology, we can no longer look away from me obvious fact we also need to change our behavior and some more than others.” – Greta Thunberg
“Every Friday we will sit outside the Swedish parliament until Sweden is in line with the Paris Agreement.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are striking because we have done our homework, and they have not.” – Greta Thunberg
“I’m just a messenger and yet I get all this hate.” – Greta Thunberg
“My number one experience is people, in general, have no clue. Many of us know something is wrong – that the planet is warming because of increased greenhouse gases, but we don’t know the exact consequences of that.” – Greta Thunberg
“This is not primarily an opportunity to create new green jobs, new businesses or green economic growth. This is above all an emergency and not just any emergency. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.” – Greta Thunberg
Climate Change Quotes Greta Thunberg
“We’ve had 30 years of pep-talking and selling positive ideas and I’m sorry but it doesn’t work. Because if it would have, emissions would have gone down by now. They haven’t.” – Greta Thunberg
“When you think about “the future”, you don’t think beyond the year 2050. By then I will not even have lived half of my life. What happens next? The year 2078 I will celebrate my 75th birthday. What we do or don’t do, right now, will affect my entire life, and the lives of my children and grandchildren.” – Greta Thunberg
“Time is much shorter than we think. Failure means disaster. The changes required are enormous and we must all contribute in every part of our daily life. Especially us in the rich countries where no nation is doing nearly enough.” – Greta Thunberg
“Carbon budgets that they will need in their everyday life for generations to come. And if that wasn’t enough, those whose carbon budgets we are stealing are the ones least responsible and the ones who are going to be affected the most by this crisis.” – Greta Thunberg
“My message is that we’ll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. Yet I am one of the lucky ones. People are suffering.” – Greta Thunberg
“I am not saying anything new, I am just saying what scientists have repeatedly said for decades.” – Greta Thunberg
“The moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything.” – Greta Thunberg
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” – Greta Thunberg
“You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children.” – Greta Thunberg
“We have to speak clearly. No matter how uncomfortable that may be.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Vegan Quotes
“When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning!” – Greta Thunberg
“We will never stop fighting for a living planet and for a safe future — for our future.” – Greta Thunberg
“There is one complaint that I ”sound and write like an adult”. And to that I can only say: don’t you think that a 16-year old can speak for herself?” – Greta Thunberg
“I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe.” – Greta Thunberg
“When many politicians talk about the school strike for the climate, they talk about almost anything except for the climate crisis.” – Greta Thunberg
“If we are to stay below the 1.5 degrees of warming limits we need to change almost everything. We need to start living within the planetary boundaries.” – Greta Thunberg
“Nowhere have I found anyone in power who dares to tell it like it is. No matter where you are, even that burden they leave to us, us teenagers, us children.” – Greta Thunberg
“Our main enemy right now is not our political opponents. Our main enemy is physics. And we cannot make “deals” with physics.” – Greta Thunberg
“As long as you, the leaders, act like everything is fine and you have things under control, people won’t understand that we are in an emergency.” – Greta Thunberg
“Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible there is no hope.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Inspirational Quotes
“A lot of people say that Sweden is a small country, that it doesn’t matter what we do. But I think that if a few girls can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school for a few weeks, imagine what we could do together if we wanted to.” – Greta Thunberg
“To all of you who choose to look the other way every day because you seem more frightened of the changes that can prevent catastrophic climate change than the catastrophic climate change itself. Your silence is worst of all.” – Greta Thunberg
“We need to focus every inch of our being on climate change because if we fail to do so then all our achievements and progress have been for nothing. All that will remain of our political leaders’ legacy will be the greatest failure in human history.” – Greta Thunberg
“We need a whole new way of thinking. The political system you have created is all about competition. You cheat when you can because all that matters is to win. That must come to an end.” – Greta Thunberg
“When I was 8 years old I remember thinking it was very strange that humans could be capable of changing the Earth’s climate. Because if we were and if it was really happening we wouldn’t be talking about anything else. But no one ever talked about it.” – Greta Thunberg
“Furthermore hardly anyone speaks about the facts that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. With upto 200 species going extinct every single day, That the extinction rate is today between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than what is seen as normal.”- Greta Thunberg
“You are failing us. But young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you.” – Greta Thunberg
“Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a future.” – Greta Thunberg
“The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping” emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as usual.” – Greta Thunberg
“We deserve a safe future. We demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Best Quotes And Sayings
“Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.” – Greta Thunberg
“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions?” – Greta Thunberg
“They say we shouldn’t worry, that we should look forward to a bright future. But they forget that, if they had done their job, we wouldn’t need to worry.” – Greta Thunberg
“If people knew what a nightmare scenario we will face if we don’t keep global warming below 2 °C, they wouldn’t need to ask me why I’m on school strike outside parliament. If everyone knew how serious the situation is and how little is actually being done, everyone would come and sit down beside us.” – Greta Thunberg
“No other current challenge can match the importance of establishing a wide public awareness and understanding of our rapidly disappearing carbon budgets that should and must become a new global currency in the very heart of future and present economics.” – Greta Thunberg
“The grown-ups have failed us. And since most of them including the press and politicians keep ignoring the situation we must take action into our own hands. Starting today. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is needed.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where no one dares to look beyond our current political systems even though it’s clear the answers we seek will not be found within the politics of today.” – Greta Thunberg
“You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us.” – Greta Thunberg
“We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases.” – Greta Thunberg
“It’s okay if you refuse to listen to me. I am after all just a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Sweden. But you cannot ignore the scientists or the science.” – Greta Thunberg
Famous Quotes By Greta Thunberg
“We need to change practically everything. We need a whole new way of thinking.” – Greta Thunberg
“Why are we not reducing our emissions? Why are they, in fact, still increasing? Are we knowingly causing a mass extinction? Are we evil? No, of course not. People keep doing what they do because the vast majority doesn’t have a clue about the consequences of our everyday life. And they don’t know the rapid changes required.” – Greta Thunberg
“Our civilization is so fragile. It is like a castle built in the sand. The facade is so beautiful. But the foundations are far from solid.” – Greta Thunberg
“Maybe you are simply not mature enough to tell it like it is. Because even that burden you leave to us children. We become the bad guys who have to tell people these uncomfortable things because no one else wants or dares to.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where everyone can choose their own reality and buy their own truth.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where politicians say it’s too expensive to save the world while spending trillions of euros subsidizing fossil fuels.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where a football game or a film gala gets more media attention than the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where the people who have contributed the least to this crisis are the ones who are going to be affected the most.”- Greta Thunberg
“Why should I be studying for a future when no one is doing anything whatsoever to save that future? And what is the point of learning facts within the school system when the most important facts given by the finest science of that same school system clearly means nothing to our politicians and our society?” – Greta Thunberg
“Everyone and everything needs to change. But the bigger your platform, the bigger your responsibility. The bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty. To make the change required, we need role models and leaders—people like you.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Quotes On Global Warming
“Changing one disastrous energy source for a slightly less disastrous one is not progress. Exporting our emissions overseas is not reducing our emissions. Creative accounting will not help us. In fact, it’s the very heart of the problem.” – Greta Thunberg
“For 25 years countless people have stood in front of the United Nations climate conferences, 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 media to start treating the crisis as a crisis.”- Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where all the united science tells us that we are about 11 years away from setting off an irreversible chain reaction way beyond human control that will probably be the end of our civilization as we know it.” – Greta Thunberg
“If the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions. To me, that is black or white. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival.” – Greta Thunberg
“Why should I be studying for a future when no one is doing anything to save that future?” – Greta Thunberg
“We want you to follow the Paris agreement and the IPCC reports. We don’t have any other manifests or demands. Unite behind the science that is our demand.” – Greta Thunberg
“Some people say that we are fighting for our future, but that is not true. We are fighting for everyone’s future.” – Greta Thunberg
“We are now standing at a crossroads in history. We are failing but we have not yet failed. We can still fix this. It’s up to us.” – Greta Thunberg
“We must stop competing with each other. We need to cooperate and work together and share the resources of the planet in a fair way.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where children must sacrifice their own education in order to protest against the destruction of their future.” – Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg Short Quotes
“Some people – some companies and some decision-makers in particular – have known what priceless values they are sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. I want to challenge those companies and those decision-makers into real and bold climate action. To set their economic goals aside and to safeguard the future living conditions for humankind.” – Greta Thunberg
My parents were as far from climate activists as possible before I made them aware of the situation. I am not part of any organization. I sometimes support and cooperate with several NGOs that work with the climate and environment. But I am absolutely independent and I only represent myself.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where our survival is depending on a small, rapidly disappearing carbon budget. And hardly anyone even knows it exists.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where some people seem to be more concerned about the presence in school of some children than the future of humankind.” – Greta Thunberg
“When I say I want you to panic I mean that we need to treat the crisis as a crisis. When your house is on fire you don’t sit down and talk about how nice you can rebuild it once you put out the fire.” – Greta Thunberg
“We need to change the way we treat the climate crisis. We need to change the way we speak about the climate crisis. And we need to call it what it is. An emergency.” – Greta Thunberg
“We live in a strange world: Where we think we can buy or build our way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things.” – Greta Thunberg
“People say that since I have Aspergers I couldn’t possibly have put myself in this position. But that’s exactly why I did this. Because if I would have been ”normal” and social I would have organized myself in an organisation, or started an organization by myself.” – Greta Thunberg
“The lowering of emissions’ is of course necessary but it is only the beginning of a fast process that must lead to a stop within a couple of decades or less. And by “stop” I mean net-zero – and then quickly on to negative figures. That rules out most of today’s politics.” – Greta Thunberg
“I was so frustrated that nothing was being done about the climate crisis I felt like I had to do something, anything. And sometimes NOT doing things – like just sitting down outside the parliament – speaks much louder than doing things.” – Greta Thunberg
Did you get inspired by Greta Thunberg quotes?
At the age, where people spend most of their time watching movies or chatting with friends, Thunberg fights for the benefits of the environment. Being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder where people feel abnormities during social interactions but with normal intelligence and language development.
People with ASD focuses on only one area of their life and Thunberg puts her focus on climate change. She became vegan and even refused to travel in the airplane because it emits a large amount of the gases that contribute to global warming.
Not only her words and speeches but her actions have inspired the world to bring a change. We hope these Greta Thunberg quotes and sayings on climate change will do the same to you.
Do share your thoughts with us in the comment section and tell us which one was your favorite from all of the Greta Thunberg quotes or if you want to ask any questions or have any query send them via Contact Us
If you can connect with these Greta Thunberg quotes, subscribe to our blog so that you don’t miss a single post. Get future posts by email, or you can follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. It’s totally FREE.