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Young people take part in a Fridays For Future demonstration
Image: Michael Probst/AP/picture allianceImage: Michael Probst/AP/picture alliance

Climate activism

From local grassroots strategies to nationwide campaigns, climate activists — many of them young people — are demanding that governments and industry step up the fight against climate change.

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All Content on this topic

Greta Thunberg pictured at a 'Fridays for Future' rally in Sweden

India: Greta under fire over farmers' protests

Indian police have filed a complaint in connection with a "toolkit"' posted by activist Greta Thunberg.
ConflictsFebruary 4, 2021
Boris Herrmann

Sailor Boris Herrmann doing his part to protect environment

Boris Herrmann, the first German to complete the Vendee Globe is committed to tackling climate change.
SportsJanuary 29, 2021
DW The 77 Percent (Sendungslogo englisch)

The 77 Percent - How is climate change affecting young Africans today?

We visit the Kenya's rising lakes, see a Maasai community adapting to climate change and meet Uganda's Vanessa Nakate.
SocietyJanuary 9, 202126:05 min
Symbolbild I BigTech I Social Media

Environmental activists face online abuse

In recent years the internet has been crucial in organizing climate activism. Movements like Fridays for Future have utilized social media to spread awareness about climate change and connect across the world. But from the Philippines to Brazil to Germany, activists are reporting increased online abuse. So what impact is this online harassment having on their work, and on them personally?
Nature and EnvironmentJanuary 7, 202107:25 min
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Vanessa Nakate: Leading Uganda’s climate change movement

Vanessa Nakate has become one of the most prominent African voices on climate change, urging world leaders to act.
SocietyJanuary 7, 202103:32 min
external

Taking climate activism online

As social distancing is making street activism harder, activists are taking their message online.
January 1, 202102:44 min
Greta Thunberg as guest editor for Dagens Nyhete daily

Greta Thunberg guest-stars as editor of Swedish newspaper

Thunberg used the editorial space to highlight climate change, which she called "humanity's most challenging problem."
PoliticsDecember 6, 2020
Police deploy a water cannon vehicle

German forest activists blasted by water cannon

Police sprayed protesters with a water cannon in freezing temperatures during a protest in central German forest.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 5, 2020
Stuart Braun | DW Reporter

Ending COVID could be a new dawn for climate

Stuart Braun
The pandemic has stifled urgent climate action in 2020, but it has also created opportunities.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 3, 2020
Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock being jolly

The Greens go mainstream

The Greens used their latest party conference to make clear that they see themselves as a party of government.
PoliticsNovember 23, 2020
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives for the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Greta Thunberg mocks Trump over election fraud claims

The Swedish climate activist took a thinly-veiled swipe at the US president, mocking his claims of electoral fraud.
PoliticsNovember 6, 2020
Fridays for Future demo in Cologne

What is next for Fridays for Future?

COVID has forced movements like Fridays for Future to go online – presenting opportunities and challenges for activists.
MediaNovember 3, 2020
Hate speech online

What impact is hate speech having on environmental activists

Environmental activists are reporting a rise in online abuse, and its dangerous offline consequences.
Human RightsOctober 29, 2020

Displaced: Drought and floods - The climate exodus

More people around the world are fleeing from climate change than from war.
Nature and EnvironmentOctober 23, 202053:36 min
Deutschland Demonstration von Fridays for Future in Köln

Germany: Planting trees for climate justice

While young city residents demonstrate against climate change, farm kids take a hands-on approach.
SocietyOctober 15, 202002:45 min
Dozens of protesters at Garzweiler mine

German climate activists occupy coal mine

Environmental campaigners are angry at the government's continued extraction and use of fossil fuels.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 26, 2020
Deutschland Berlin | Black Lives Matter | Protest gegen Rassismus

Climate activists old and young

Young environmentalists are profiting from the knowledge and experience of older activists.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 25, 202002:32 min
Klima-Proteste | Schweden Greta Thunberg

Climate strikers are back on the streets

School strikers across the world are demanding urgent action on climate change.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 25, 2020
Climate activists in the Philippines hold big cardboard hands saysing "act now or talk to the hand"

Fridays for Future protests — live updates

It's the first global climate protest since the coronavirus pandemic forced activists to move their actions online.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 25, 2020
Deutsche Welle Tamsin Walker

Global climate strikers take on inactive leaders

Tamsin Walker
As citizens the world over shout for bold climate action, it's time for leaders to get real, says DW's Tamsin Walker.
PoliticsSeptember 25, 2020
Vanessa Kirby at the Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival 2020 midway roundup

Vanessa Kirby, Greta Thunberg, Pedro Almodovar and a pandemic: DW's Scott Roxborough reports from the Venice festival.
CultureSeptember 7, 2020
Vanessa Nakate

Climate activist Nakate: 'We have no time left'

As a prominent Fridays for Future activist, Vanessa Nakate tells DW how climate activism looks different in Uganda.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 2, 2020
Protesters gathered at the Garzweiler mine

Climate activists target German lignite mine

Climate protesters have converged on a German brown coal mine, demanding that townships facing excavation stay put.
Nature and EnvironmentAugust 30, 2020
Uganda FFF-Aktivistin Vanessa Nakate

In Africa 'it's Fridays for Now'

Now a prominent activist, Vanessa Nakate began protesting against climate inaction outside Uganda's parliament in 2019. While fellow European activists were emptying schools each Friday, she had to take a different approach to educating young people in Uganda. She tells DW why she's recently been tweeting in German.
Nature and EnvironmentAugust 27, 202006:43 min
Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer at the Chancellry

Greta demands Merkel 'be brave' on climate change

Leaders of the Fridays for Future movement want Chancellor Angela Merkel to step up to tackle climate issues.
Nature and EnvironmentAugust 20, 2020
Deutschland | Debatte über Herabsetzung des Wahlalters

German politicians call for lowering voting age to 16

Three of Germany’s main political parties have called for the federal voting age to be lowered from 18 to 16.
PoliticsJuly 30, 2020
To The Point 16.07.2020 | E | Totale

Tackling climate change: is corona a blueprint?

COVID-19 has taught us to change our lives. Is it time for a rethink on tackling global warming?
Nature and EnvironmentJuly 16, 202026:04 min
James Jackson

A European Green wave may be coming

James Jackson
Green parties are gaining ground in Europe, and that's good for the planet, writes DW's James Jackson.
PoliticsJuly 5, 2020
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Climate activists get creative

The coronavirus pandemic has forced climate protest groups to find new ways to get their message out.
Nature and EnvironmentJune 27, 202002:41 min
Open-plan office with dozens of workers in cubicles

Working less to save the world?

As DW explores ideas for a better future, we ask whether shorter working hours could help us consume more sustainably.
Nature and EnvironmentJune 19, 2020
Deutschland Berlin | Aktion Extinction Rebellion | Spree gefärbt

XR: Climate militancy despite coronavirus pandemic

XR activists are staging their provocative protests despite the pandemic.
SocietyJune 12, 2020
A protester holds a sign at the Datteln coal power plant

Activists protest Germany's new coal power plant

The new plant fired up just months after Germany unveiled a plan to phase out coal by 2038.
Nature and EnvironmentMay 30, 2020
This file photo taken on January 31, 2020 in Stockholm shows Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg giving a press conference during a video conference

Greta Thunberg asks UN to back lawsuit against Germany

Greta Thunberg launched a formal complaint against five countries for backing fossil-fuels and endangering children.
Nature and EnvironmentMay 5, 2020
Deutschland Berlin | Fridays for Future, digitaler weltweiter Klimaprotest

Fridays for Future adapts

The climate action movement Fridays for Future is finding ways to adapt its tactics to lockdowns.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 24, 202001:31 min
Actvist Pauline Brünger paints a protest poster for the digital climate strike

COVID-19 no match for climate strikes

Fridays for Future activists are moving their global demonstrations online during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 24, 2020
Fridays For Future Turkey share a glimpse of their video conference via Zoom where members discuss their strategies

Tough times for climate protesters amid coronavirus

As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps climate protesters off the streets, some are striking digitally.
Nature and EnvironmentApril 2, 2020
DW Shift Sendungslogo

Shift - Living in the Digital Age

From big data to electricity via smart phone: digital tools in the fight against climate change.
Digital WorldMarch 20, 202012:36 min
Greta Thunberg at a Fridays for Future protest.

Greta wants strikes to go digital amid coronavirus fears

As the world is hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Greta Thunberg has urged climate campaigners to go digital.
Nature and EnvironmentMarch 12, 2020
MADE Disruption Design

Making the economy sustainable

Creating a climate-neutral economy poses big economic opportunities, but it will take bold action.
BusinessMarch 11, 202026:06 min
MIG Sendung am 10.03.2020

Climate activism and industry

Green campaigner Luisa Neubauer says industry must do more to address the climate crisis.
Nature and EnvironmentMarch 10, 202004:06 min
USA Trump zum Pariser Klimaabkommen

The spin machine upending the climate consensus

Investigative journalists have exposed how a libertarian think tank is trying to strip climate protections in Germany.
Nature and EnvironmentMarch 9, 2020
No third runway protesters

Climate activists win Heathrow airport legal battle

Environmental activists successfully won a court case against the expansion of one of Europe's busiest airports.
Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 27, 2020
Swedish actor Olof Thunberg, during a news conferfence in Kolmarden, Sweden, on April 30, 2015.

Greta Thunberg's grandfather dies at 94

Olof Thunberg was a famed Swedish actor, director and voice artist.
SocietyFebruary 26, 2020
Fridays for Future | Greta Thunberg in Hamburg, Germany

Greta Thunberg scathing about politicians in Hamburg protest

The Swedish activist said she failed to understand how politicians could still "behave as though everything were fine."
Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 21, 2020
DW's Eco Africa - Vanessa Nakate, Fridays for Future activist in Uganda

Fridays for Future, Ugandan style

After being snubbed, Vanessa Nakate is working even harder to bring home her message of environmentally friendly living.
Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 21, 202003:39 min
Beata Ernman (Schwester von Greta Thunberg) im Konzert

Greta Thunberg's sister launches singing career

The younger sister of the climate activist will perform in a Stockholm musical alongside her mother this fall.
MusicFebruary 18, 2020
England Anti-Fracking Protest in Blackpool

EU votes for more gas infrastructure

The EU has voted to adopt 55 new fossil gas infrastructure projects that critics say betrays the Green Deal.
Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 12, 2020
Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg to star in own TV series

The teen #FridaysforFuture climate activist is set to get her own TV series.
Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 11, 2020
Leah Namugerwa, Aktivistin aus Uganda

Quote of the week

Nature and EnvironmentFebruary 6, 2020
Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser before the company's annual shareholder meeting in Munich

Can German industrial giant Siemens save the climate?

At Siemens' annual shareholder meeting in Munich, climate change took center stage as activists protested outside.
BusinessFebruary 5, 2020