Greta Thunberg | The Innovator 25 EMEA 2019
innovator-25-emea-greta-thunberg

Greta Thunberg

Environmental Activist

Sweden


Greta Thunberg is the only one of our Innovator 25 this year who is not from a comms or marketing background (and, at not-quite-17, she's the youngest person we’ve ever featured), but there was no question of not including her in our cohort of the most innovative communicators in EMEA, and indeed the world. Over the past year, Thunberg has single-handedly transformed the language and tone around the most pressing existential issue of modern times: the climate emergency. She’s wrestled it from being a domain where only NGOs, policymakers, politicians, big business and scientists had a credible voice (and where, arguably, there was more talk than action), to taking ownership of the need for immediate action and speaking for and to the global population of young people whose lives will be most affected by environmental change. Her articulate messaging, powerful storytelling and single-issue call-to-action won’t solve the problem overnight (and the solutions will inevitably be complex and will need to involve those “grown-ups” mentioned above) but the way she resonates emotionally with Gen Z to galvanize climate activism (including her effective use of social media) must be the envy of every brand that wants to connect with this audience.