Later that day, at an event to celebrate twenty years of the Greens’ presence in the European Parliament, former MEP Jean Lambert said with a wink: ​“It’s been very nice to remind Labour that the European Greens actually had a manifesto in 2009 called Green New Deal – thank you Labour, nice to see you catching up!”

They are right to feel smug. If it started as a fringe movement most deemed unrealistic, the GND – a grand plan to address both climate change and economic inequality through sweeping reforms and massive investment – is now everywhere.



Over the past few months, US politics rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has presented a version of it to Congress, The Guardian has come out in favour of one for the UK, and politicians from all parties (including the Conservatives) have called for a Green New Deal to be passed through Parliament.



It’s not just that, of course; though it has been hard for any issue to cut-through in Brexit Land, climate change and the environment have been everywhere. There were the climate youth strikes across more than 100 countries; direct action from Extinction Rebellion leading to central London coming to a standstill for a week; widespread media attention for teen activist Greta Thunberg, Parliament voting to declare a climate emergency, and much more.



So, what does it feel like to be in the party that was right all along? ​“We’ve been been on the right side of history on a lot of the big issues,” said Greens co-leader Jonathan Bartley, ​“but there’s no political capital in being right.”

That doesn’t mean that he’s not enjoying the momentum swinging in his direction: ​“I did an interview for 5Live during the Euro elections, there were about eight of us from different parties, all talking at the same time, and it was really hard to cut through. We were talking about Brexit, had a whole bunch of Remainers and Brexiteers, and it was very hard to have a meaningful discussion. Then I just talked about the climate, and suddenly, everyone was falling over themselves to talk about the climate, they all piled in.”

This was a bit of a recurring theme over the weekend; the Greens have been banging on about the state of the planet for decades, people are suddenly listening, now what?

For some, it is a cause for celebration: Chandler Wilson is 18, has been a Green member since they were 13, and is really happy that their generation is waking up to what they’ve cared about for so long.



​“It’s been great to see so many young people getting out on the streets and showing that they won’t take the adults who are in Parliament destroying our future to make profit,” they said. ​“And the statement of not going to school because ​‘why does it matter if we’re not going to have a planet in 25 years’ time?’ has really been a wake up call. It’s shocking that it’s taken this long but it has given me hope that we’ve got that momentum now.”



Charlie Keller agreed; an 18-year-old as well, they joined the Greens in 2017 and welcomed this new enthusiasm for climate campaigning: ​“When I was in high school, I wish people would have been more active in realising what was happening, and getting involved in politics, because I was the only person that was actually doing things, so it’s great that we have this new sense of community.”

That being said, they are worried that people finally talking about climate change is one thing, but them doing something about it is quite another. ​“I’m concerned that the government aren’t doing enough; declaring a climate emergency alone isn’t enough. It’s just a statement.”