From Berlin to New Delhi, youth activists protest for action on climate

Activists have geared up for protests around the world to demand action on the climate crisis just as a pair of major weeklong climate events were getting underway in New York City.

The actions on Friday in Berlin, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi and many other cities are being organised by the youth-led group Fridays for Future.

The group's New York chapter also planned a march across the Brooklyn Bridge followed by a rally that organisers hoped would attract at least 1,000 people.

More protests were planned for Saturday and Sunday.

New York is hosting Climate Week NYC, an annual event that promotes climate action.

At the same time, the UN General Assembly takes up the issue on several fronts, including raising trillions of dollars to aid poorer countries suffering the most from climate change.

'Save the Climate'

In Berlin, dozens of people took to the streets although in fewer numbers than in previous years.

Activists held up signs saying "Save the Climate" and "Coal is Over!" as they watched a gig put on outside the German Chancellor's Office.

Protesters in London held up letters spelling out "Pay up," calling for the country to pay more to adapt to climate change and transition away from fossil fuels.

The New York protest wants to take aim at "the pillars of fossil fuels" — companies that pollute, banks that fund them, and leaders who are failing on climate, said Helen Mancini, an organiser and a senior at the city's Stuyvesant High School.

Greta Thunberg

Youth climate protests started in August 2018 when Greta Thunberg, then an unknown 15-year-old, left school to stage a sit-down strike outside of the Swedish parliament to demand climate action and end fossil fuel use.

In the six years since Thunberg founded what became Fridays for Future, global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has increased by about 2.15 percent, according to Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who monitor carbon pollution.

Since 2019, carbon dioxide emissions from coal have increased by nearly 1 billion tonnes (900 million metric tonnes), while natural gas emissions have increased slightly and oil pollution has dropped a tiny amount, according to the International Energy Agency.

That growth has been driven by China, India and developing nations.

But emissions from advanced or industrialised economies have been falling and in 2023 were the lowest in more than 50 years, according to the IEA.