Greta Thunberg, the soft-spoken Swedish teen who became a global conscience for climate change and environmental activism, has been named Time's Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019.

The magazine announced 16-year old Thunberg as its choice Wednesday exclusively on NBC's "TODAY."

Thunberg quickly bloomed into one of the world's most notable and youngest climate change activists

She sparked a collective movement to fight climate change after protesting alone outside the Swedish parliament during school hours on Fridays when she was 15. The teen held up a now universally recognized hand painted sign that read "skolstrejk för klimatet," which translates to "School strike for the Climate."

Thunberg's initiative to strike, galvanized hundreds of students to protest for climate justice throughout Europe and that momentum quickly fanned across the globe becoming the "Fridays For Future" movement.

Her signature no-nonsense blunt style of speaking made her a force that could not be ignored by world leaders and she was asked to speak in front of several high-profile entities including the United Nations and the United States Congress.

Thunberg, who was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at a young age, heard about climate change at 8 years old and said she became instantly concerned to the point that she plunged into depression over it.

"I remember thinking that it was very strange that humans that are an animal species, among others, could be capable of changing the Earth's climate," she said during a 2018 Ted Talk.

She gave up eating meat and traveling via airplane, among other things, in order to reduce her carbon footprint.

The young activist sailed for just over two weeks on a zero-emission boat with her father in August to attend the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York City and to meet with various politicians.

When she appeared before Congress, Thunberg refused to read prepared remarks and instead submitted a 2018 United Nations global warming report to lawmakers telling them, "I don't want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists, and I want you to unite behind the science."

One of her most notable appearances occurred at the UN Climate Change Summit in September when she excoriated global leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by telling them they had "stolen her dreams and childhood" with their "empty words."