Young activist Greta Thunberg, 16, has once again stolen the show with a rousing speech on the climate crisis to defend schoolchildren who went on strike last week.

The teenager opened a European Commission event in front of President Jean-Claude Juncker where she told politicians to stop ‘sweeping their mess under the carpet for our generation to clean up’.

Greta, from Sweden, defended the hundreds of thousands of children who took part in global school strikes saying: ‘If you say we are wasting valuable lesson time, let me remind you, our political leaders have wasted decades through denial and inaction and since our time is running out we have started to take action.’

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She added: ‘We have started to clean up your mess and we will not stop until we are done.’




The teenager was joined by other young climate change activists at the European Economic and Social Committee’s ‘Civil Society for rEUnaissance’ event in Brussels today.

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She opened her rousing speech by saying: ‘Tens of thousands of children are school striking for climate on the streets in Brussels over climate.

‘Hundreds of thousands are doing the same all over the world.

‘We are school striking because we have done our homework, and some of us are here today.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, flanked by other young climate activists during her speech (Picture: EPA)

Greta spoke in front of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the event in Brussels (Picture: EPA)

‘People always tell us that they are so hopeful – they are hopeful that the young people are going to save the world, but we are not.

‘There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge.

‘We know that most politicians dont want to talk to us – good. we don’t want to talk to them either.

‘We want them to talk to the scientists instead – listen to them. Because we are just repeating what they are saying and have been saying for decades.’

She targeted politicians and prominent figures who have slammed the School Strike 4 Climate movement – which successfully saw thousands of pupils across the UK march for the environment last Friday – for trying to avoid the issue at hand.

Greta Thunberg speaks during the European Economic and Social Committee event ‘Civil Society for rEUnaissance’ (Picture: EPA)

Hundreds of thousands of school children left their lessons on Friday to protest climate change (Picture: AFP)

The UK demonstrations coincided with others taking place around the world (Picture: Getty)

Greta said: ‘When many politicians talk about the School Strike 4 Climate, they talk about almost anything except for the climate crisis.

‘Many people are trying to make the school strikes a question of whether we are promoting truancy or whether we should go back to school or not

‘They make up all sorts of conspiracies and call us puppets who cannot think for ourselves, they are desperately trying to remove the focus from the climate crisis and change the subject.

‘They don’t want to talk about it because they know they cannot win this fight, because they know they haven’t done their homework – but we have.’

She called for a new political and economic system based not on competition but on working together to protect the planet’s resources.

Pupils wore their uniforms to the climate march on Westminster (Picture: PA)

Schoolchildren take part in a student climate march in London on February 15 (Picture: Getty)

‘We need to start living within the planetary boundries, focus on equity and take a few steps back for the sake of all living species,’ she said.



‘We need to protext the biosphere, the air, the oceans, the soil, the forests. This may sound very naive but if you have done your homework then you know we don’t have any other choice.

‘We need to focus every inch of our being on climate change because if we fail then all of our achievements and progress have been for nothing.

‘All that will remain of our political leaders’ legacy will be the greatest failure of human history and they will be remembered as the greatest villains because they have chosen not to listen and not to act.’

She gained a huge applause when she called on those who say children should stay in school to ‘take our place in the streets, striking from your work – or better yet join us so we can speed up the process’.

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