It’s a strange time when the world looks to a teenager for salvation. On Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced and Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, is tipped to win. A year ago, the teenage protester was unknown; today she is regularly compared to Joan of Arc. More than 4m people took part in the world’s largest climate protests in September, following her lead.
With protesters also barricading roads in London this week — at time of writing, access into Westminster had been shut off — it’s clear that climate change is a central issue of our time. Although Ms Thunberg is not officially connected to the protests organised by Extinction Rebellion, her influence is everywhere.
If she does win the prize, however, it will say a lot about the shortcomings of the global climate debate. Efforts to save the planet over the past decades have not succeeded, and emissions of carbon dioxide are still rising. If a teenager is the last best hope for action, it’s worth asking how this has come to pass.