16-year-old Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, has been named as Time’s Person of the year, becoming the youngest individual to receive the distinction in its 92-year of existence.
The magazine revealed its choice on Wednesday, naming climate change activist Thunberg as the Person of the Year.
.@GretaThunberg is TIME's 2019 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/YZ7U6Up76v pic.twitter.com/SWALBfeGl6
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2019
Clinching the title Greta defeated prestigious candidates like United States (US) President, Donald Trump; Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi; Chinese leader, Xi Jinping; US soccer star, Megan Rapinoe; President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; and New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.
Thunberg rose to prominence in August 2018 when she started to lobby her government in Sweden to step up its environmental commitments, such as pledging to reduce carbon emissions.
She gained international attention for condemning world leaders for their inaction in the climate crisis in a viral speech she made at the UN Climate Action Summit in September.
She criticised world leaders again at the COP25 conference last week.
The Time editors also announced winners of four additional categories instead of designating runners-up for Person of the Year.
The US women’s soccer team, which captured the World Cup title in the summer, earned Athlete of the Year honours, while Grammy-nominated singer Lizzo was named Entertainer of the Year.
Disney CEO Bob Iger was named Businessperson of the Year after the successful launch of the streaming service Disney+ and a record of more than $10 billion in box office receipts for Disney films.
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