Germany unmoved by Greta Thunberg's climate movement

By Abi Carter

She may be making headlines around the world, but according to a new survey, Greta Thunberg and her Fridays for Future climate movement are leaving the German population largely unaffected. 

German views on climate unchanged by Fridays for Future

The majority of the German population does not believe that their personal attitude to environmental and climate issues has changed as a result of the Fridays for Future Movement, initiated by Greta Thunberg. This emerges from the latest DeutschlandTrend, a regular survey carried out by the ARD Morgenmagazin. 

A total of 72 percent of respondents said that they were not (41 percent) or hardly (31 percent) influenced by the Swedish climate activist and her protest movement. Just one in four said they felt strongly (17 percent) or very strongly (7 percent) influenced by the Fridays for Future campaign. 

Unsurprisingly, the views differ considerably when broken down according to the respondents’ political affiliation. Thunberg has left a very strong impression on Green supporters, of whom 43 percent said they have been affected by her. CDU / CSU, AfD and FDP voters, in contrast, reported being largely unmoved.

Thunberg’s Fridays for Future protests began last year with a strike in front of the Swedish parliament. Every Friday since then, students have been taking to the streets in countries across the world to demand better action on climate change. 

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Abi Carter

Editor in chief at IamExpat Media

Abi studied German and History at the University of Manchester and has since lived in Berlin, Hamburg and Utrecht, working since 2017 as a writer, editor and content marketeer. Although she's happily taken on some German and Dutch quirks, she keeps a stash of Yorkshire Tea on hand, because nowhere does a brew quite like home.Read more

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