Years ago, Greta Thunberg rose to worldwide fame for her climate activism, which all began in Stockholm, Sweden. Today, she’s one of the most influential people on the planet regarding climate campaigns; over the years, the 19-year-old has met world leaders all over the globe.
Thunberg has won several awards over the last number of years, but not once has she retained any associated prize money. Instead, she donates her earnings to different causes and organizations at work to help solve the climate crisis.
So what is her net worth, one might wonder? And how did Greta Thunberg even begin her journey for climate activism?
Here’s all you need to know about the Swedish activist!
No matter what your opinions are about the specific cause, seeing young people taking action to achieve goals bigger than themselves is always inspiring. We’ve seen many examples of this throughout history, but few can compare to the buzz generated by a certain young girl from Stockholm, Sweden.
Greta Thunberg – climate activist
Some years ago, Greta Thunberg started her climate campaign. She sat on a spot outside the Swedish Parliament building holding a sign: “School strike for climate.” Now, her climate activism has spread worldwide through many organizations – one of which is Friday for Future – and Thunberg has become a celebrity.
Still, fame and glory don’t seem to be in Greta’s interests. Though she’s won plenty of awards, had a documentary made about her, and even met with presidents and other world leaders, she still considers herself an average person fighting for an earnest goal: stopping climate change, making a difference for the coming generations, and ultimately saving planet Earth.
Though she reaches millions of people through her social media channels, Greta still heads back to the same parliament building in the Swedish capital every week to protest.
This is all you need to know about her!
“We kids most often don’t do what you tell us to do. We do as you do. And since you grown-ups don’t give a damn about my future, I won’t either. My name is Greta, and I’m in ninth grade. And I am school striking for the climate until election day.”
On August 20, Greta posted two pictures of herself and the above text on her Twitter account.
Terrified that we as a collective are destroying our planet, Thunberg was furious that the people in power don’t seem to be doing anything about it. So she decided to take action and did what she could.
Greta Thunberg – early life & family
Back in August, 2018, Greta biked to the parliament building in the central part of the Swedish capital of Stockholm, and planned to go on a school strike to get Swedish politicians to act according to The Paris Agreement, a legally binding climate agreement that Sweden signed in 2016.
Thunberg wasn’t satisfied with how her country was conducting itself on that front.
“[I’m going to sit here] because no one else is doing anything. It’s my moral obligation to do what I can,” Greta, then 15, told the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
“I want people to open their eyes and realize that we are in the middle of a crisis, as well as engage people.
“I brought my books from school, so I don’t fall behind. [My parents] want me to go to school, of course, but they can’t stop me from going here, and they understand why I do it.
At that point, Greta was an unassuming, little-known 15-year-old. She went to school just like everyone else, and dreamed of a bright future.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 3, 2003, Greta grew up in an artistic family. Her mother, Malena Ernman, works as an opera singer. Her father, Svante, is an actor.
Her younger sister Beata, who has accompanied Greta at many climate events, is also an up-and-coming singer in Sweden. Beata, 17, has already performed with her mother several times.
Greta was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome – a form of autism – at age 11. But for her, that hasn’t been an obstacle at all.
“We dare to ask difficult questions”
Admittedly, she’s revealed that she doesn’t like small talk, and in private she’s very shy and withdrawn. But according to Greta herself, her diagnosis paved the way for a new opportunity.
“To get out of this climate crisis, we need a different mindset from the one that got us into it,” she said in an interview with The Observer.
“People like me – who have Asperger’s syndrome and autism, who don’t follow social codes – we are not stuck in this social game of avoiding important issues.
“We dare to ask difficult questions. It helps us see through the static while everyone else seems to be content to role-play.”
When Greta first sat down outside the Parliament Building in Stockholm, she didn’t think anyone would care. Sure, locals paid attention to her, and newspapers wrote articles, but apart from that, Thunberg wasn’t too optimistic that she could make any serious change.
She described herself as “that girl in the back who never said anything” in an interview with The Guardian.
The first day, August 20, 2018, she spent sitting with a homemade sign made from wood scrap. In big black letters, the sign read: “Skolstrejk för climate,” Swedish for “school strike for climate.”
Greta Thunberg’s first school strike
During the first day, not much happened besides Greta’s presence receiving minor coverage. But when Greta – who treated the day just like any other school day – returned the next day, students, teachers, and parents joined her.
Soon, the campaign began to attract huge media interest, and not only in Sweden. In September of 2018, Greta began a regular Friday strike, which she named Fridays for Future. She encouraged students in Stockholm and other cities and towns in Sweden to follow.
Before long, people worldwide had joined Thunberg, and just six months later, Fridays for Future had protests spreading across than 70 countries. On September 20, 2019, four million people across 161 countries worldwide joined a school strike, marking the biggest climate demonstration in history.
As The Guardian reported: “The protests often had their individual targets; from rising sea levels in the Solomon Islands, toxic waste in South Africa, to air pollution and plastic waste in India and coal expansion in Australia.”
As you may have heard, Greta doesn’t travel anywhere by plane, and doesn’t eat meat. She was in New York City for the biggest climate demonstration in history, having traveled there by boat. Thunberg sailed from Plymouth, UK, on a zero-emissions yacht to minimize her carbon footprint for the journey. After 15 days and 3,000 miles, she made it to New York City.
Emotional speech in New York City
“Our war on nature must end,” Thunberg told reporters shortly after arriving.
“I want to thank everyone who is involved in this climate fight because this is a fight across borders, across continents.”
In New York City, Greta also spoke at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. There, the environmental activist furiously attacked world leaders at the United Nations for not doing more to stop global warming.
“My message is that we’ll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!” Thunberg said through tears in her speech.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Since Greta first sat down outside the Parliament Building in Stockholm three and a half years ago, she’s become one of the most famous people in the world.
Greta Thunberg – awards & criticism
The now 19-year-old Swede has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice, and became Time Magazine’s Person of The Year in 2019. She’s addressed the United Nations, thanked the Pope, and met with world leaders, royalty, and more than one president.
At the same time as many have praised her for her efforts, some have been very critical. Donald Trump and Al Gore, among others, have said that she’s been brainwashed, claiming that Greta is controlled by her parents like a puppet doll.
Others have targeted Thunberg as part of conspiracy theories, saying that she’s being manipulated and funded by politicians and various organizations.
Back in 2019, she addressed the claim via Facebook.
“There is no one ‘behind’ me except for myself. And I do what I do completely for free,” Greta Thunberg wrote, adding that she and her family haven’t “received any money or any promise of future payments in any form at all” and that her “parents pay for tickets and accommodations” whenever she travels for her activist work.
“And, of course, it will stay this way. I have not met one single climate activist who is fighting for the climate for money. That idea is completely absurd,” Thunberg stated.
Donating all price money
Along with several of her awards, she’s also been given prize money. For example, Thunberg was awarded about $100,000 dollars after winning The Right Livelihood Award back in 2019. The year after, she got a further $100,000 dollars upon receiving the Human Act Award from the Human Act foundation.
Greta herself has states that she has no plans to become a philanthropist.
“There are no interests in philanthropy. It is just something that is needed for handling money (book royalties, donations, prize money, etc.) in a completely transparent way. The foundation’s aim will be to promote ecological, climatic, and social sustainability as well as mental health,” she said.
Thunberg’s most sizable check to date was received in 2010, when she was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. She received about $1.15 million, but the climate activist doesn’t consider the money hers. Rather, Greta’s decided to set up her non-profit, The Greta Thunberg Foundation, a foundation that allows her to donate money to many different organizations.
“That is more money than I can begin to imagine,” Thunberg said in a video posted to Twitter after receiving the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.
“But all the prize money will be donated, through my foundation, to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front lines, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis.”
Greta Thunberg – net worth
So Greta isn’t rolling in money because of her work. Instead, the money she receives from awards is put into projects and her foundation, which in the long run funds other organizations.
But just how much money does Greta Thunberg have? Well, according to The Sun, the climate activist’s net worth is estimated at around $1 million.
Though the Swede’s life has become very hectic – traveling across continents, attending demonstrations and meetings with world leaders – nothing can stand in the way of her pursuing her climate goals that envision a brighter future.
When asked where she sees herself ten years in the future, Greta told UN Dispatch last October:
“I have no idea. I don’t think I want to speculate in that. As long as I’m doing everything I can, as long as we are doing everything that we can, I think we can just, I don’t know, live in the moment, and then just try to change the future while we still can, instead of trying to predict the future.”
Greta Thunberg is a true inspiration for many. Though not every citizen of the world agrees with her, she believes 100 percent in her cause, which is in itself something worthy of admiring.
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