ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus has hit out at critics of Greta Thunberg and described the teenage climate activist as a girl with "superpowers".

In a video message he described the 16-year-old, who started her school strikes outside the Swedish parliament last August, as a "populist nightmare".

The fellow Swede said he could not understand where the anger directed towards her comes from.

"How can you stoop so low as to criticise the looks of a child? A young girl. The reason is of course the lack of counter arguments," he said.

Greta's outspokenness and confrontational approach has seen her face criticism from some quarters.


The likes of US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have both taken aim at her.

Image: The fellow Swede said he could not understand where the anger directed towards her comes from

Mr Putin said he did not share the excitement about Greta's address to the United Nations last month and Mr Trump used Twitter to comment on the speech in which she angrily denounced world leaders for failing to tackle climate change.

He wrote: "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see."

Ulvaeus added: "Even if you don't think that everything Greta says or does is unquestionable, you have to admire her guts and her focus.

"It's a monumental achievement to create a global mass movement from scratch in such a short time."

Inspired by Greta's solitary weekly protests outside the parliament, millions of people have poured onto the streets around the globe to demand governments take emergency action on climate change.