Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize | Life

06 Feb 2020

Greta Thunberg. Photo: Gallo Images/Getty Images

According to the Swedish lawmakers, Greta deserves the award for her hard work of bringing awareness to the "climate crisis".

"[Greta] has worked hard to make politicians open their eyes to the climate crisis ... her action for reducing our emissions and complying with the Paris Agreement is therefore also an act of making peace," Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling tell The Hill.

The climate movement does not need any more awards. What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.

Greta Thunberg

Greta was previously nominated for the award in 2019 by three members of the Norwegian parliament. The honour ended up going to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

If Greta wins this year, she would be the first person to receive the award for climate change activism since Al Gore in 2007. She would also be one of the youngest people to ever receive the honour alongside Malala Yousafzai who received the award in 2014.

View this post on Instagram

I have received the Nordic Council’s environmental award 2019. I have decided to decline this prize. Here’s why: “I am currently traveling through California and therefore not able to be present with you today. I want to thank the Nordic Council for this award. It is a huge honour. But the climate movement does not need any more awards. What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science. The Nordic countries have a great reputation around the world when it comes to climate and environmental issues. There is no lack of bragging about this. There is no lack of beautiful words. But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita - if we include our consumption, our imports as well as aviation and shipping - then it’s a whole other story. In Sweden we live as if we had about 4 planets according to WWF and Global Footprint Network. And roughly the same goes for the entire Nordic region. In Norway for instance, the government recently gave a record number of permits to look for new oil and gas. The newly opened oil and natural gas-field, ”Johan Sverdrup” is expected to produce oil and natural gas for 50 years; oil and gas that would generate global CO2 emissions of 1,3 billion tonnes. The gap between what the science says is needed to limit the increase of global temperature rise to below 1,5 or even 2 degrees - and politics that run the Nordic countries is gigantic. And there are still no signs whatsoever of the changes required. The Paris Agreement, which all of the Nordic countries have signed, is based on the aspect of equity, which means that richer countries must lead the way. We belong to the countries that have the possibility to do the most. And yet our countries still basically do nothing. So until you start to act in accordance with what the science says is needed to limit the global temperature rise below 1,5 degrees or even 2 degrees celsius, I - and Fridays For Future in Sweden - choose not to accept the Nordic Councils environmental award nor the prize money of 500 000 Swedish kronor. Best wishes Greta Thunberg”
A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) on Oct 29, 2019 at 12:37pm PDT

Compiled by Phelokazi Mbude

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