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Global climate strikes kick off ahead of UN summit on climate change

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As world leaders prepare to meet in New York for a UN Climate Summit next week, millions of young people all over the world will skip school on Friday to demand faster action against climate change.

“Soon the sun will rise on Friday the 20th of September 2019. Good luck Australia, The Philippines, Japan and all the Pacific Islands. You go first!” Thunberg posted on Instagram on Thursday.

Protests are also scheduled to take place in European capitals including London, Paris, and Berlin.

Thunberg has galvanised young people around the world since she started protesting alone with a sign outside the Swedish parliament building in August 2018. Over the past year, young people in other communities have staged scattered strikes in solidarity with her Fridays for Future movement.

Organisers on Friday will hold coordinated strikes around the world for a third time, with Thunberg spearheading a march and rally in New York, where the United Nations headquarters are located.

In a show of solidarity, New York City education officials will excuse students who want to participate in the march.

Next week’s summit will bring together world leaders to discuss climate change mitigation strategies, such as transitioning to renewable energy sources from fossil fuels.

Global warming caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels has already led to droughts and heatwaves, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and floods, scientists say.

Carbon emissions climbed a record high last year, despite a warning from the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in October that output of the gases must be slashed over the next 12 years to stabilise the climate.

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