Climate Protesters From Paris to Sydney Rally to Save the Planet

(Bloomberg) — A global movement backed by 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg got underway Friday, with students in Europe and Australia skipping school and workers walking off jobs to demand action on climate change.

Tens of thousands of people attended a protest in a central Sydney park, holding up homemade signs with slogans such as “You’re Burning our Future” and “There Is No Planet B.” In Berlin, demonstrators gathered by the landmark Brandenburg Gate, just a few steps from where Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government hammered out a comprehensive climate- protection package.

Thousands are marching in Paris, London, Brussels and Warsaw, with similar protests planned in New York, Toronto and elsewhere in North America.

“This is about the future of our planet,” said Laura Lazzarin, an Italian national living in Berlin who joined demonstrators near the Brandenburg Gate. “We can’t go on like this, and politicians must realize that.”

#GlobalClimateStrike in London are urging political leaders to take action on the climate crisis #CoveringClimateNow pic.twitter.com/2uCxa7jBLp

— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) September 20, 2019

Protesters joining the Global Climate Strike movement want governments to treat global warming as an emergency, slash subsidies for fossil fuels, and switch economies to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible. They’re part of a worldwide series of demonstrations that organizers say will take place in 150 countries on Friday and on Sept. 27.

“As we deal with devastating climate breakdown and hurtle towards dangerous tipping points, young people are calling on millions of us across the planet to disrupt business as usual by joining the global climate strikes,” according to a statement on the organizers’ website.

The movement has taken hold in Europe, where climate has been catapulted to the top of the political agenda. The European Union should walk away from fossil fuels, the bloc’s energy chief told Bloomberg TV this week after a record spike in oil prices. A total of 93% of Europeans see global warming as a serious problem, according to a recent survey by the European Commission.

In front of the Brandenburg Gate, three protesters dressed in black stood on top of melting ice blocks with nooses around their necks as hundreds of people gathered around them, carrying home-made placards, blowing whistles and chanting “We are here, we are loud, because you’re stealing our future.”

In Poland, home of 33 of the EU’s 50 most polluted cities, more than 60 climate protests were held Friday. At the biggest gathering in Warsaw, more than a thousand demonstrators called for the government to curb its dependence on coal, which is burned to produce more than 80% of the country’s electricity.

“The government is doing too little and this needs to be changed,” said Dionizy Debski, a high school student from Warsaw.

#PrayforAmazon. We should stop buying the beef that’s being imported from Brazil to Hong Kong.”Climate activists gathered in Hong Kong, demanding world leaders to address global warming #ClimateStrike #GlobalClimateStrike pic.twitter.com/xfA2Gk0llB

— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) September 20, 2019

The movement — inspired by the braided Swedish teenager Thunberg who started weekly school walkouts last year — has gone global, drawing parallels with other protests like the Civil Rights struggle and anti-apartheid demonstrations.

Friday’s protests are timed ahead of United Nations events, including the first Youth Climate Summit on Saturday and the Climate Action Summit of government, corporate and other leaders on Sept. 23 in New York. Thunberg, who founded the “Fridays for Future” protest group, captured media attention by sailing across the Atlantic to address the youth event, rather than traveling by plane — doing her bit to cap emissions.

The climate campaign has spurred some companies into action. Germany’s Volkswagen AG, the world’s biggest automaker, pledged to make more electric cars and become climate-neutral by 2050. Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos vowed Thursday to wean his company off fossil fuels by 2030. He also announced the formation of a new organization — the Climate Pledge — amid a steady drumbeat of criticism from activists and his own employees over Amazon’s dependence on fossil fuels.