About Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg spoke at the Tech for Palestine Brussels Conference in April and June 2026, where she discussed the connection between climate activism and other social justice issues, including Palestine. She stated that the same values drive her activism for the climate and for Palestine, describing them as part of a fight against the same system that exploits people and nature. Thunberg argued that climate activists cannot ignore injustices such as the situation in Gaza, and she criticized what she described as the complicity of governments, institutions, and companies in enabling genocide. She also said that accusations of antisemitism are used to water down the term and to silence criticism of Israeli policies.
In interviews, Thunberg addressed the relationship between ecocide and genocide, stating that the destruction of ecosystems and people's means to survive are methods of oppression. She named Swedish officials and companies, including Vice Prime Minister Ebba Busch and Spotify founder Daniel Ek, as examples of those she believes are enabling the conflict. Thunberg also discussed her personal habits, noting that she does not buy new clothes and prefers receiving socks as gifts. She described herself as autistic and said that people sometimes perceive her as serious and angry, though she noted that her friend calls the "Greta effect" a regression of humor to that of a 12-year-old boy.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Greta Thunberg's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Greta Thunberg0:00
Of course, it's always a step in the right direction that we are even talking about this. And of course, all the small steps in the right direction are a step in the right direction. But if we actually look at what's happening, if we actually look at the actual emissions, we are right now experiencing the second highest rise in emissions ever in history. So I mean, it doesn't really reflect what they are kind of saying.
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Interviewer0:22
The developing world is a key part of this, isn't it? And particularly countries as well like China. I mean, what's the key, do you think, to increasing the speed of compliance here with these measures?
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Greta Thunberg0:37
I mean, to be frank, we won't achieve anything without actually treating the crisis like a crisis. And right now, we are just treating it as a minor topic, as a political topic that's a bit important. If it's something that the current pandemic has shown us, it is that the climate crisis has never once been treated as an actual crisis. And I'm not saying that we should respond the same way we did with corona, but it really does put it in a different light. We didn't treat the corona pandemic as a flu. We didn't say, 'Oh, this will benefit the industry that manufactures face masks.' We didn't say it will create lots of new jobs within healthcare. Or, 'Of course, the climate crisis will bring lots of benefits. It will create jobs, we will be healthier, we will hopefully probably also be happier.' But I mean, we can't only treat it as an opportunity. We also have to see it for the actual crisis it actually is. We can act without having these conferences. They don't lead to anything anyway as it is now.
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Interviewer1:47
Well, in terms of taking action on COVID, do you think a country like the UK should be sending doses of vaccine abroad rather than vaccinating teenagers or people in their twenties?
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Greta Thunberg1:59
Of course, I understand that many people have very different opinions on this, but myself, I think that we should in the first hand prioritize people in risk groups and in older age groups before vaccinating healthy young people, no matter where in the world they come from.
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Interviewer2:18
I think a moment that many of you, many viewers, will remember is your encounter with President Trump at the UN. I mean, was there a sense in which he was a sort of perfect antagonist for you as a campaigner, and that it's in a way harder with President Biden?
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Greta Thunberg2:36
No, I mean, I don't care about if they are antagonists to me or if they are good media-wise and so on. We just care about the actual action that is going on, if they are taking real action or not. And then, of course, Biden may be a bit less worse for the environment, but still, we have to look, as I said, we have to look at the actual emissions and the actual action that they are taking.
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Interviewer3:06
Well, it's interesting you say President Biden is a bit less worse. It's an interesting way of putting it because obviously his people would say it's a completely different story to Donald Trump, who was a denier of climate science.
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Greta Thunberg3:18
Yeah, of course, it is a completely different story. And Biden could bring lots of change. This could be a sign of a real change. But we can't just relax.
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Interviewer3:31
I'm just a little interested, just in these last moments of the interview, to get a sense about your own plans for your life and your campaign. And in terms of doing that, now you're 18, does that mean going into politics? Does it mean doing stuff through college? What does it actually mean?
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Greta Thunberg3:52
I don't know, honestly. I don't know what it's like to be an adult, what that actually means. But nowhere down, I've gone through like different possibilities, whether I would be most useful as a scientist, or whether we need more politicians, or whether we need more people this and there. And I mean, of course, we will always be needing more science, but we have all the science we need to actually take action. We have politicians. What we don't have is political will. And political will you get from people demanding climate action. And so what's needed now, at least I think, is to spread awareness, to create a public pressure, to create real pressure and demand for climate action on politicians. So that's kind of where I'm trying to contribute in a way that I can. But that may change. The situation might change. In a few years, it may be more convenient to be a politician.
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Interviewer4:56
Greta Thunberg, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
