Students Strike for the Climate Around the World

In August 2018, 15-year-old Swedish pupil Greta Thunberg began sitting outside the Riksdag in Stockholm during school hours instead of attending class. Calling her action a school strike for the climate, she protested every school day for the three weeks leading up to the Swedish general election. Her primary demand was that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Shortly before the election, Thunberg announced that she would continue striking every Friday, introducing the slogan Fridays for Future.

Thunberg was soon joined by others, and her sustained action swiftly inspired similar protests abroad. On 30 November 2018, thousands of students rallied in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane in defiance of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's advice that they stay in school. Within months, the Associated Press reported, the weekly protests had snowballed from a handful of cities to hundreds.