Although Greta Thunberg has long been at the center of the youth climate movement, she has always tried to divert attention away from her and bring it towards climate action. But it’s not just media attention Thunberg has been receiving.
Recently, the 17-year-old environmental activist was awarded the Gulbenkian prize for humanity for the way she ‘has been able to mobilize younger generations’, which came with €1 million in prize money. Being the leader she is, however, Greta decided once more to donate all the money towards “different organizations and projects, who are working on the frontlines to help people on the frontlines affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis, especially in the Global South.”
The first €100,000 of the prize money will go to the “SOS Amazonia” campaign led by Fridays For Future Brazil to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in the Amazon. Another €100,000 will go to the Stop Ecocide Foundation “to support their work to make ecocide an international crime”, Thunberg said on Twitter.
The €1m is the largest prize won by the 17-year-old environmental campaigner who has also won Amnesty International’s top human rights prize and the Swedish Right Livelihood Award, often presented as an alternative Nobel prize.
