To avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, we need to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Meet the people whose actions are making a difference.
Is a life in professional football compatible with being a climate activist? This is the question Norwegian footballer Morten Thorsby found himself asking early on in his career.
Connecting older people across Finland, 71-year-old European Climate Pact Ambassador Anu Harkki is using the science behind the climate crisis to empower them to act.
Inspiring young people across Europe and around the world, Olivia Mandle – a 15-year-old European Climate Pact Ambassador from Spain – has made it her mission to protect the ocean, fight climate change and safeguard young people’s future.
With the need to tackle climate change set to continue for the foreseeable future, raising young people’s awareness of the issue is more important than ever. Carsten Herbes, a European Climate Pact Ambassador and professor from Germany, is encouraging young people to jump in at the deep end of international climate negotiations.
Putting pressure on policymakers to take climate action is crucial. At 23, European Climate Pact Ambassador Sofie Winge-Petersen, from Denmark, is part of a young, environmentally aware generation doing just that. An innovation engineering student, a social entrepreneur, and a born problem-solver, Sofie is showing us how targeted solutions, together with effective grassroots organisation, can make a real difference – and how the European Climate Pact can support these ambitions.
Anna began her career by pursuing a childhood dream: working in London as a manager for classical musicians. However, after a decade working in the industry, Anna decided to change her career to address some of the climate-related challenges she had witnessed in her role and make a difference to the environment. “That kind of lifestyle means you’re flying non-stop,” she says.
Rising temperatures as a result of climate change have sparked an increase in wildfires across Europe, igniting a burning crisis that threatens homes, communities and lives. French firefighter and European Climate Pact Ambassador Sébastien Lahaye believes that part of the solution lies not in Europe, but in the Australian Outback. Learning the fire prevention techniques of Indigenous Australians, Sébastien has made it his mission to spread the message about how we use and manage land, so that the frequency and severity of wildfires in France and across Europe can be reduced.
When Frank Deboosere began delivering weather forecasts to millions of Belgians in the 1980s, he didn’t know he was setting out on a path that would lead to him becoming a pioneer of climate action. Today, he volunteers as an Ambassador of the European Climate Pact, fusing his scientific knowledge of meteorology with his popularity to motivate Belgians to get on their bikes, improve their health and wellbeing, and help prevent the impending storm of climate change.
The picturesque Croatian town of Poreč-Parenzo on the Adriatic Sea is fusing its rich tourist heritage with a more sustainable future. The European Climate Pact Ambassador and local businesswoman behind this transformation is Gordana Lalić.
For European Climate Pact Ambassador Vanessa Archontidou, what began as a hobby evolved into a life calling. The Greek mountaineer who has climbed each of the Seven Summits – the highest mountain on every continent – now uses storytelling to empower others, especially women, and encourage them to take climate action to protect our planet.