This year, the world's best known climate activist, Greta Thunberg, turned 18. GRETA THUNBERG: People say a lot of things about me. -Greta, you know Greta? -(CROWD BOOS) GRETA: People call me a brat, an idiot. And yet, for reasons I don't understand, people listen when I talk. (CROWD CHEERING) You are listening to me right now. (CROWD CHANTING) But I don't want that, I don't want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the science. We are seeing a huge change in the temperature of the planet. MICHAEL MANN: Wildfires and floods and droughts and superstorms around the world, that's where we're headed if we don't take action. NARRATOR: This series follows Greta on an extraordinary year in her fight against climate change. I've been going the whole way around the world, the wrong way. NARRATOR: In 2019, she took a year off school to witness first-hand the impact of global warming. MARCIA PHILLIPS: As soon as the ice in the rock starts to get warmer, that stabilising influence disappears. NARRATOR: And discover whether technology could help protect our future. We could start, all the emissions we could potentially imagine. We should be hopeful, but hope doesn't come from words, hope only comes from action. Unless we do something, we're going to lose everything. NARRATOR: Greta's taken her protest to the global stage. World leaders are behaving like children, so it falls on us to be the adults in the room. NARRATOR: But in a year when COVID brought life to a standstill. The Coronavirus continues to spread. Can Greta convince a world wheeling from one crisis, to finally face another? COVID-19 has really given the world a tremendous opportunity to reset. How we address the climate crisis will determine what the future of life on Earth looks like. GRETA: We can act, but we don't have time to wait. NARRATOR: January 2020, the most powerful people in the world are preparing to gather in Davos, Switzerland for the 50th World Economic Forum. And they've invited Greta, who plans to use the opportunity to persuade them to abandon fossil fuels. It's the next step in a remarkable journey that's taken her through North America, where she witnessed climate change first-hand. We think of glaciers as great and powerful, but in fact, we know we're not bringing this glacier back. NARRATOR: Back across a stormy Atlantic, to the main stage of the United Nation's Climate Summit in Spain. We no longer have time to leave out the science. NARRATOR: After time at home in Sweden, Greta is travelling north to the edge of the Arctic Circle, to see for herself the human cost of global warming. GRETA: The Sami People, they're actually Europe's last and only indigenous people. They have a very rich culture and traditions. Because of the changing climate, their way of life is, is being threatened. NARRATOR: Indigenous Sami herders like Carl-Johan Utsi and Sana Vana have been caring for reindeer for over a thousand years. What does the reindeer mean to you and to, to the people here? SANA VANA: It's so important for us to live with nature and also with animals. We get everything from the reindeer, we get their antlers and the skins and the meat. But mostly it's, it is a way of living and a way of life. NARRATOR: But now, the reindeer are facing starvation. So why is climate change making it harder for the reindeer to find food? This lichen grows naturally in the forest area. That's the main food for the reindeer in winter time. The snow is easily one metre deep, but the reindeer still can find it by smelling it through the snow and digging it up with its hooves. But this year we have to give them extra food, because of the natural food, it's beneath hard packed snow and ice. NARRATOR: Close to the poles, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth. And warmer temperatures mean it often rains when it used to snow. When the rain hits the cold ground, it forms a layer of ice, which the reindeer can't break. What would happen to these reindeers if, if you weren't here to give them this? They will, ah, they would spread out on a huge area and a lot of them would die from starvation. NARRATOR: If these pressures continue, many Sami may be forced to abandon herding and this unique way of life could be lost forever. I hope that the next generation can still have a life with the reindeers. We have been following the reindeer for thousands of years and we don't want to give up just yet. GRETA: The climate crisis is a very unfair crisis. It is the ones who are already the most vulnerable that are going to suffer the most. AYANA: Around the world we are already starting to see human migration due to climate change and it's only going to accelerate. My country, Bangladesh, this is now being hit by both cyclones as well as floods and, in the longer term, sea level rise. So I would estimate that the number of people being forced to move is very credibly going to go up to hundreds of thousands and indeed, millions perhaps, over the next 10 to 20 years. NICHOLAS STERN: If you look at Africa, for example, you're already seeing desertification. People will have to move away from places where they can no longer live, which might create conflict. Those who cannot move may well perish where they are. We can adapt to some of this, but the scale is such that we cannot adapt to it all. AYANA: The real injustice of this, is that these are people who have contributed often the absolute least. They have not been the ones burning tons of fossil fuel, but they are bearing the brunt of the impacts of climate change. (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) NARRATOR: Greta is setting off on a journey that will take her to the World Economic Forum in Davos. (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) There she will demand an immediate reduction in fossil fuel use, putting pressure on world leaders, particularly US President, Donald Trump. (SPEAKING) NARRATOR: Greta usually travels with her father, Svante. But for the first time, she'll be going without him. (SPEAKING) SVANTE THUNBERG: She's become like a, an adult now. She was, you know, a child when she started this and, uh, now she's much more a, an adult, yeah. You know, she doesn't want me around as much, which is great. This is her thing, now she's old enough to do it by herself. NARRATOR: Greta won't be completely alone, a family friend is travelling with her. But for Greta, it's still a big step. Now, I'm 17, I had my 17th birthday, I celebrated with, with a strike, as usual, outside the Swedish Parliament. Soon I'm officially an adult, 18 years, and I, yeah, I, I don't like that. (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) Of course I want to become more independent, but also want to remain a child, because life is so simple when you're a child. Thanks. NARRATOR: The effects of climate change are now being felt all over the world. Thank you very much, love what you're doing. NARRATOR: Here in Europe, increasingly severe weather is already wreaking havoc in towns and cities. NEWSREADER: Severe flood warnings are in place this afternoon in parts of England, meaning there is a danger to life. NEWSREADER: Heavy rain forced the river right through this town in Bavaria. Parts of France have seen the same sorts of problems. There's clearing up to do and there's more rain to come. NARRATOR: To understand more about the causes of flash flooding, Greta is stopping off in Gdansk, Poland. She's here to meet a climatologist who studies extreme weather. Professor Jacek Piskozub. -GRETA: Hi. -Hello, it's nice to see you, nice to meet you. I'm Greta, very nice to meet you too. NARRATOR: In 2001, torrential rain led to floods across Gdansk. How much higher was the water level? All this from, from this concrete channel to this building were gone. NARRATOR: More flooding followed in 2016. This is some footage from, from the last. GRETA: It's floods. So the climate crisis, you expect, you, you expect melting glaciers and you don't expect these kinds of events in this part of Europe. What do you think could be the cause of these, these floods? The main reason is that, is that the warmer the Earth gets, the more water vapour it can hold. You have something like 7% more water vapour for every degree increase of temperature. NARRATOR: More water in the air means heavier, more extreme downpours. Warmer temperatures are also affecting air currents, driving more storms over northern Europe. In the future, is this what the pattern is, is this what we are, we should be expecting? Yeah, we should, we should prepare for, for, I should say, tropical rains here, because sooner or later, we will get, uh, temperature in summers like in tropical countries here. (THUNDER) (RAINING) FRIEDERIKE OTTO: We see very strongly in Northern Europe this pattern of more extreme rainfall and heavier rainfall. In cities, where the water can't really go anywhere, that leads to flash flooding. But of course, there are other extreme weather events, for which climate change plays an important role. Heatwaves are becoming more severe and more common. FRIEDERIKE OTTO: In 2019, we had a heatwave across Europe with temperature records being broken in France and Germany and many other countries. And we found that, without climate change, the heatwave in France would have been 2 degrees cooler. And that costs lives. The 2019 European heatwave caused the deaths of around two and a half thousand people. We've seen that just 1 degree Celsius of warming has led to unprecedented extreme weather events. That's just 1 degree Celsius and we'll see far more than that if we continue on the that course we're on. NARRATOR: Greta is travelling south, towards Poland's industrial heartland. (BELL TOLLS) WEATHER READER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). NARRATOR: It's the end of her first week on the road. GRETA: It's the first time I'm travelling without my parents. I was expecting to be more like home sick and sort of being away from, from home. But, but I don't really feel like that, it's... which is good, of course. I definitely feel that I've become more independent and more capable of handling things and so on. SVANTE: It was very strange to see her go off by herself. It took a few days of, of, of getting used to, you know. You check in all the time, are you okay, doing, you know, how, how are you feeling? And, of course, you don't think that they will survive at all without you there. But of course, uh, they do (CHUCKLES), they always do. NARRATOR: In 2015, world leaders agreed to a global treaty, aiming to limit temperature rise. Yet here in Poland, 80% of electricity is still generated by burning coal. At the World Economic Forum, Greta will question politicians on how they plan to deliver on their promises. World leaders say that we will keep the global average temperature rise to below 1.5, or well below 2 degrees, and yet they still plan to continue to burn coal for decades. NARRATOR: Coal is the most polluting of all the fossil fuels, releasing almost twice as much carbon dioxide as burning gas. To discover why it's still being used, Greta is meeting Hanna Brauers, who studies the impact of the coal industry. GRETA: Can you tell me a bit about this place? HANNA BRAUERS: Well this is the biggest coal power plant in the entire EU. In the whole of the EU? Wow. And also, it's the biggest carbon dioxide emitter, so it emits about 38 million tons of CO2 each year. That's, I mean it, you cannot realise how much that is. NARRATOR: The Belchatow Power Station is built next to an open cast mine, stretching eight miles across. GRETA: I've seen many coal power plants, but never one as big as this. -It's massive, it's just enormous. -Yeah. Why are we still so dependant on coal? Why are we using it so much? Compared to oil and natural gas, it's just easier. Coal is relatively easy to get out of the ground, you can store it very easily. And when you think about coal, it's very energy dense, where you simply burn it and you get a lot of energy. GRETA: And is it cheaper or more profitable to use coal? So short term costs are very cheap. But if you account for all the costs that coal has, climate cost, environmental cost and also health costs for people, I don't think it's cheaper in any part of the world. NARRATOR: The low cost of extracting coal means it's still responsible for over a third of electricity generated worldwide. CAMERON HEPBURN: We need a very rapid, uh, but carefully managed transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy. KEVIN ANDERSON: Nuclear may have a small role, it's a very low carbon electricity source. But if you wanted to, say, get half of our energy from nuclear, you'd have to have several thousand nuclear power stations built in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. So it's only when you play out the practicalities and the planning issues and waste issues, you start to realise it can't play a huge role. MICHAEL MANN: The good news is that the answer here is very simple. The miracle's already there, it's the sun, it's the wind, it's geothermal. There's a renewable energy supply for every country on the planet. AJAY GAMBHIR: If you're in a windy country, like the UK, for example, we've got really great wind resources. If you're in a sunnier country, like India, then you're going to have a lot of cheap solar power. The thing that's so important about renewables and has changed actually so much even in the last decade, is they've just become cheaper. NICHOLAS STERN: It has been dramatic and they are now, right across the world, cheaper than fossil fuelled, uh, electricity supply. Now there's still some limitations, because the sun isn't always shining, the wind isn't always blowing. So ultimately, you need battery infrastructure, um, grid infrastructure that can integrate renewable energy more efficiently. KEVIN ANDERSON: One of the big challenges to recognise, when we think about moving away from fossil fuels, is that there are lots of jobs and communities involved who have locked in this whole infrastructure and we have to rapidly move away from that. We shouldn't underplay how difficult that is. NARRATOR: Before leaving Poland, Greta has come to the region of Silesia, where coal has been mined for over 800 years. We have many, many very easy solutions at hand right now, like, um, moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy. But people desperately want to keep the status quo. We will go down. NARRATOR: She's meeting a few of the thousands of miners who have lost their jobs when their pit was closed in 2016. Falling coal prices and rising costs meant they could no longer turn a profit. Many in the region fear a shift towards renewables will lead to even more job losses. (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) GRETA: I wanted to go to talk to the coal miners in Poland, to see things from a different perspective and to sort of see the human implications that the transition might bring. Could you tell me a bit about how you felt when you, when you first heard that the mine was closing? (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) You've obviously contributed so much to the society and then they just close it like that, I mean, you must have felt very betrayed? (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) I think I was a bit nervous before, because I thought, well they probably see me as some kind of angry teenager. But, um, I think it is important to, to listen to, to these people and see what they have to say. Honestly I was positively surprised that they were so aware and they said, yes, we want a sustainable transition, but it has to be in the right way. If we are to address the climate crisis, we need to fundamentally change what we prioritise. And of course, we need the political will to actually care for and prioritise people and, and the planet, so that we won't leave anyone behind. NARRATOR: Greta is preparing to take this message to the World Economic Forum, now just a few days away. NEWSREADER: Key figures from industry, world leaders, even a few celebs, all descending on the Alpine ski resort of Davos, at this year's World Economic Forum. Attending this year will be President Trump, teenage climate activist, Greta Thunberg and top executives. NARRATOR: The reason a Swedish schoolgirl has gained the attention of Prime Ministers and Presidents is because her school strikes have become a global movement. (CROWD CHANTING) GRETA: When I started striking, I didn't know what it could lead to, I just thought that I need to do something and I hope it has any effect. NARRATOR: Today, when she attends a march, tens of thousands flood the streets and millions more follow her updates online. This is week 74. Marches are my thing, that's what I do. But it's actually very hard for me. I don't look forward to them, I have Asperger's and I don't... like everyone surrounding me. Before I started school striking, during a long period, I couldn't move around inside schools, because that was too much stimulation. And so I had to go to, like, a special school where there were like five people in my class. To go from there to, to this reality, it's just a big contrast. There are people everywhere and everyone's screaming and it's quite exhausting. But, it is my moral duty as a human being to do everything I can, so I don't know, I just have to do it. Now it may seem like it's only negative, but of course I get lots of energy from it as well. (CROWD CHANTING) GRETA: On stage it's okay, because then I can go into another character. (CROWD CHEERING) Of course it is very inspiring to see that so many people actually seem to care about this. (SPEAKS FRENCH) But, it feels like today we've pushed almost as far as we can. Unless people in power start to actually treat the crisis like a crisis, we won't get anywhere. (SPEAKS FRENCH) I mean, we could go to the moon and strike, that wouldn't change anything. But that doesn't mean we won't continue. To the world leaders and those in power, I would like to say that you haven't seen anything yet. (CHEERING) And that is the message that we will bring to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week. (CHEERING) NARRATOR: While the great and good begin to gather in Davos, Greta is venturing into the mountains above the town to see how the Alps are already being reshaped by climate change. MAN: Oh my God, it's big. NARRATOR: In 2017, a rock face above the village of Bondo gave way, bringing millions of tons of boulders and mud crashing through the streets. It was so loud and, uh, there were stones and mud everywhere. NARRATOR: The entire village costs 60 million pounds to repair. Eight people lost their lives. It was, it was terrifying. NARRATOR: Alpine rock falls are becoming more frequent and scientists have been trying to find out why. I think we can start digging here and we'll just take turns digging. GRETA: Yeah. So here? NARRATOR: Greta has joined Doctor Marcia Phillips, who studies permafrost, ground that remains frozen all year round. MARCIA PHILLIPS: And this snow is like old sugar, isn't it? -Yeah. -That's the sign it's been there for a long time. NARRATOR: Doctor Phillips has found that snow cover has a surprising effect on the frozen earth. MARCIA PHILLIPS: Now, what we should do is measure the temperature right at the bottom of the snow cover and at the top and see if there's a difference. -GRETA: Here? -You can put it in like this, like, yeah, exactly, yep. And just leave it. It's going to disappear in here. (CHUCKLING) Yeah. So we have zero at the base, and then we'll look at the top here, like this. GRETA: -2.1 degrees. Still going down. GRETA: Yeah, -2.3 degrees. MARCIA PHILLIPS: It's now -2.8 degrees. This difference in temperature between the ground and the top of the snow cover shows us that the snow cover is actually keeping the ground warm. Oh, I think many would be surprised to hear that. Yep. We always think snow is cold, but it's like a big, thick blanket over the, --over the mountain. -Yeah. And, um, it traps the heat in the ground. So it is keeping... -Exactly. -...the ground warm. With more snow fall, do we risk seeing more rock fall as well? Snow has a huge influence on ground temperature, it will influence whether ice on the ground will melt or not, and it will also influence how much water can actually run into the ground in spring, when we have snow melt happening up in the mountains. And water running into rock, or into, into cracks in the rock, is, is very, uh, bad and that can lead to rock fall, yeah. At high elevations, they think we're going to get more snow, which is not so good for the permafrost. NARRATOR: On steep slopes, where snow doesn't settle, rising air temperatures also play a part. (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE) Warm air causes ice within the rock to melt and water to seep in, destabilising the cliff. GRETA: So, what worries you about the future? 0 degrees in the air temperature has climbed 500 metres in my lifetime and I'm 50 years old. -Oh. -So that's a 500 metre difference, which is quite huge. It's not very powdery for a snow angel, I think. No. NARRATOR: Whilst rock falls pose a danger in the mountains, elsewhere, thawing permafrost has global implications. TAMSIN EDWARDS: The amount of permafrost on the planet is huge, it's around 15% of northern hemisphere land. Trapped in the soil is lots of organic matter from plants. As the permafrost thaws, the organic matter that is frozen in the ground thaws as well and that releases greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, but also methane. SRIDHAR ANANDAKRISHNAN: Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, it's actually more effective at trapping the sun's rays than carbon dioxide is. TAMSIN EDWARDS: So that causes even more warming and more thawing of the permafrost. SRIDHAR ANANDAKRISHNAN: It's, uh, what's called a positive feedback loop, where things get worse and worse and worse and worse. TAMSIN EDWARDS: It's hard to know how much the permafrost is going to release, but scientists predict it could release gases equivalent to between 40 and 700 billion tons of CO2 this century. NARRATOR: In a village just outside Davos, Greta is getting ready for one of her most important speeches to date, a rare chance to put the case for curbing fossil fuel use to the world's political and business leaders. This will be a very intense week. My schedule is already fully packed, I'll probably need to take some things out. Obviously we haven't gotten anywhere and we are still like... MAN: What's that? It's a pig. I found this on the ground in Vienna. It doesn't take up much space. One very important person that is going to be there and that people, people are talking about, is Donald Trump. NEWSREADER: President Trump promised voters that he'd bring back coal. My administration is putting an end to the war on coal. We'll have clean coal, really clean coal. The media has made me to, to be like anti-Trump. So I am being treated as the opposite of Trump, so it's me, Greta, versus Trump, a small, shy girl who speaks, is speaking about science versus Donald Trump. MAN: What happens if you meet him? I have actually no idea, it depends on the situation. I can't be rude, but on the other hand, I can't be too nice. NEWSREADER: On the eve of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, focus on teenage activist Greta Thunberg is there, as she prepares to challenge the global financial elite to fight climate change. NEWSREADER: The other global figure topping the bill today will be Donald Trump. Their appearance today is bound to feel like something of a showdown. (CROWD CHANTING) WOMAN: 2020 is an absolutely pivotal year for our world's climate, some are even calling it the year of truth. We are going to start with some words from Greta Thunberg. You say children shouldn't worry, you say, just leave this to us, we will fix this. And then... nothing. Silence, or something worse than silence, empty words and promises which give the impression that sufficient action is being taken. Last week, I met with Polish coal miners who lost their jobs because their mine was closed. And even they had not given up, on the contrary, they seemed to understand the fact that we need to change more than you do. I wonder what will you tell your children was the reason to fail? We demand participants immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels. We don't want these things done by 2050 or 2030, or even 2021, we want this done now. (CLAPPING) NICHOLAS STERN: The oil and gas companies themselves are recognising how much they have to change. Are they changing fast enough? I don't think so. AJAY GAMBHIR: We've already found far more fossil fuels than we can usefully burn to stay within our international temperature goals, by some estimates, 15 times the amount. But fossil fuel companies are still spending a lot on exploration, perhaps 55 billion dollars a year or so. It's incumbent upon governments around the world to change the rules, so that you win by being clean and you lose when you're dirty. Despite the fact that we know just how damaging fossil fuels are, governments around the world are still subsidising them. In terms of the global magnitude of fossil fuel subsidies, it amounts to around three $373 billion annually. AJAY GAMBHIR: It would definitely be helpful if we were able to transfer some of those subsidies from fossil fuels towards cleaner technologies. NARRATOR: On the same day as Greta's speech, President Trump takes centre stage. NEWSREADER: Donald Trump has flown over 4000 miles from Washington to the Alpine heights of Davos. The main goal of this meeting, to do much more to tackle global temperature rise. DONALD TRUMP: It's an honour to address the distinguished members of this organisation. The United States is now, by far, the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. The American energy revolution is lowering electric bills and, very importantly, prices at the pump. The United States no longer needs to import energy. But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. NEWSREADER: US President Donald Trump spent several minutes of his speech hailing the economic importance of the oil and gas industries, dismissing what he termed perennial prophets of doom on climate change, to an audience that included Greta Thunberg. (SCOFFS) Yeah. I held a speech and the only thing people were interested in was Greta versus Trump, what do they say about each other? But I just ignored him completely. They just want to, to make headlines that creates clicks. What I actually said in the speech goes completely, I mean, unnoticed. The numbers are being completely left out, um, then we are not getting anywhere. NARRATOR: Greta's father Svante has travelled from Sweden to offer his support. Now I have the privilege to present, uh, the President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump. All they were saying was just how great their own country was and how rich they were. I mean, that's how you tell the difference between different kinds of leaders. I mean, if you don't even mention... the challenges, then that's, it's just... But it, yeah, so like you... Every, every second was just... Yeah, but Greta, you've been saying that for at least two years or three years. What rules the world today is power and arrogance and, um, and I think she's just the complete opposite of that. She's not strong. GRETA: I'm very emotional, I'm very small and I'm very... yeah, I'm, I'm weak in a way. That's something I'm very proud of, because if you are able to live in this society without, without feeling bad, without becoming depressed or something, then that (CRIES)... if you, if you feel bad today, so many people are, are so sad and so depressed and they` But that's a good thing because it means they still have empathy, that they, that they don't want to live in this world where we have lost empathy. Yeah, so many people come up to me and say, like, like, they believe that there's something wrong with them because they are feeling, feeling like shit. But I think it's the opposite, it's the rest who can maintain living in this, this society where we only care about prestige and, and these are shallow things that don't matter and being the best and so on. Those are the people who... who are not normal (SNIFFLES). The more I've been able to experience, the more I've realised that this, this world we are living in right now is not sustainable, in many different ways. And we have stopped caring about what is true or not, we no longer care for the things that actually matter, we only care what's on the surface. And the climate crisis is, of course, a symptom of that. Now we can either choose to continue down this road, which will lead nowhere and we, we know that, or we can choose to, to choose a different path. (SPEAKING OTHER LANGUAGE IN BACKGROUND) NARRATOR: Greta has travelled to the UK, a country attempting to establish itself as a climate leader. NEWSREADER: The Prime Minister has announced plans to cut the UK's carbon emissions to almost zero over the next 30 years to help tackle climate change. NARRATOR: The UK is funding research into technological innovations to try to limit global warming. And Greta is here to find out about a multimillion pound project in which they're researching a novel way of tackling emissions. GRETA: Many people seem to think that there will be a sort of, em, magic silver bullet that scientists will invent that easily will fix the climate crisis, without us actually having to make an effort. And I want to go to see these solutions in action. NARRATOR: The UK government's plans include funding for pilot projects, which aim to help industry reduce its carbon emissions. From plants producing hydrogen for vehicles, to steel refineries and power stations. But most of these plans rely on a single technological breakthrough, carbon capture. It's currently being trialled at Drax, a wood burning power station in Yorkshire. WILL GARDINER: It's the biggest power station in the UK. NARRATOR: CEO Will Gardiner's team is developing the prototype, designed to remove carbon dioxide from the power plant before it escapes into the atmosphere. So this is where we're doing our pilot projects for carbon capture. NARRATOR: The waste gas is mixed with a chemical solvent which separates the carbon dioxide from the other gases. WILL GARDINER: The idea here is that each one of these tubes will sort of spray the solvent in there and it interacts with the gas inside the column to do the capture. NARRATOR: The prototype currently captures one ton of carbon dioxide each day, less than 0.01% of the plant's emissions. WILL GARDINER: To give a sense of scale, those pipes there are carrying about 10,000 tons of flue gas a day. And so the idea would be, we need to move from that one to that one. Right now you are capturing one ton a day. What is happening to, to that carbon and what, where are you storing it? So, I mean, to be honest, most of what we're capturing today, we're actually returning into the system, because we don't have the sort of underground storage, it's not ready. So the idea is that we would build a pipeline from here and take out the CO2 and stick it under the North Sea and permanently lock it away, that's, we have to do that as fast as we can. Approximately when would you be able to, to capture as much CO2 as you are emitting? For us to capture effectively all of it, is probably some time in the early 2030s and that's the sort of current thinking. I mean, wouldn't it just be, be easier to just spend that money on, for example, building wind turbines, or? So, I mean, the answer is we need to do both in my view. They are moving in the right direction and, of course, I admire their determination. But I have so many mixed feelings about this. We have to also acknowledge and realise the fact that emissions need to reduce now, today. We can't wait for, for a couple of decades for these technologies to become available that will alone solve this problem for us. There isn't a one size fits all solution to tackling climate change. Carbon capture and storage technology is one part of the solution. It cannot be, ah, the solution. To really tackle climate change, we need to adjust, adapt, change almost everything we do. AJAY GAMBHIR: We need to find technological solutions to drastically reduce our energy use. JOHN BARRETT: We moved recently from incandescent lightbulbs to LED lightbulbs, which are around 90% more efficient than the old ones. The amount of electricity needed now to do a wash on your washing machine is considerably less today than it was 10 years ago. These energy savings do make a real difference, for example, in the UK, although our houses are now full of all sorts of gadgets and gizmos, our electricity usage is actually down compared to the mid 1990's. In supermarkets, instead of having open fridges, they can put doors on them. AJAY GAMBHIR: Supermarket fridges account for around 1% of total electricity usage in the UK, so tackling that could have a very significant effect. JOHN BARRETT: But technology alone probably isn't going to find all the solutions. MIKE BERNERS-LEE: We need to curb the growth in our total energy use, in order that our renewable energy supply stands a chance of replacing, rather than just being as well as the fossil fuel that we use. JOHN BARRETT: We've had to actively thing about how we use less energy. Without that, I don't think we can create the necessary change. NARRATOR: To see how she can engage more people with her message, Greta has come to London. She's seeking the advice of someone who's been sharing the wonders of the natural world for over 70 years ` Sir David Attenborough. -Hi. -Hi, how are you doing? -I'm good. -Nice to see you. Nice to meet you, it's an honour to meet you and thank you for... I want to ask you, have you, during your career, seen any, any changes in the natural world? Because you've obviously had the opportunity to see it first-hand. What happened first was that you suddenly realised that there were animals that had been there once are not there anymore. The public, as a whole, thought well it's, it's interesting, but they didn't actually realise we were changing the world, you know, or even consider that we might be changing the climate. And for a long time it suited people to bury their heads in the sand. But it is to do with us and we know about the way the world works, that's what science is about. We need to reach some kind of tipping point. What would you say to, to people, especially young people, who feel like there isn't any point in doing this, because no one is listening anyway? (SIGHS) People are listening. I mean there is a precedent, of course, there was, there was a time 30 years ago when it really looked as though we might certainly exterminate several species of big whales. Fishing nations, maritime nations of the world did get together and did say, okay, unless we do something, we're going to lose everything. And there just could be a change in moral attitude from people worldwide, politicians worldwide who see that self-interest is for the past, common interest is for the future. We've seen many young people started to speak up more and more and to realise the urgency. But do you have any thoughts or ideas how we can activate the older generations as well, because we need everyone? Yes, we do. My generation has, has made a mess of things. We've known that it's happening and we've done nothing, or next to nothing. I mean we have to make major changes to the way we live and that's where you, you've done such a lot, you really have. Um, and you have, you've spoken for, uh, the generation who's going to have to look after this. I've been bleating about this for a long time, but the big changes came when you spoke. And, um, that, that, that's, that's brought hope. GRETA: This is a marathon, not a sprint. I've made a deal with myself that I'm in this for the long run and I can't be discouraged by things not happening the way I want them to be. Instead of just being worried and depressed and speculating about how the future may be, then you should try to change that future while you still can, in order for that future to turn out the way it should. NARRATOR: Greta has big plans for the next stage of her journey, a 5000 mile train ride. Today you can't speak up about the climate or environment without being questioned all the time. Just look at China, what about China? And so, therefore, I want to at least try to go there to, to be able to say, I, well I... well, I tried. NARRATOR: But recent events are making the trip more challenging. NEWSREADER: It's been confirmed that a new virus that has killed three people and has been spreading across China can be passed from person to person. The infection is a new type of coronavirus. It was coming up in the papers and obviously all the world leaders were having, uh, emergency meetings and lots of Greta's stuff was being cancelled because, um, ah, yeah, things were changing. NEWSREADER: The number of people infected has tripled over the weekend, with the outbreak spreading to the capital, Beijing. It's very hard to predict how this is going to evolve, um, the following weeks, months. I guess I will start planning, like, two weeks at a time. NARRATOR: With her plans on hold, Greta is heading to the south west of England. (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING) She's now half way through her year off school. GRETA: I don't think I'm much different now, but of course, I've met with many people, I've talked to many people, which of course have helped shape the way I see the world. But at the same time, I'm still the same person, still saying the same message, over and over again. SVANTE: She's matured a lot, she knows what she wants to do and she knows, um, how to do it. And I think she allows herself to enjoy that too. I think that's the biggest difference, is that she's... she's having more fun. (CROWD WHOOPING) NARRATOR: Greta is in Bristol, to help local activists celebrate a rare victory. NEWSREADER: Controversial plans to expand Bristol Airport have been thrown out by counsellors. NEWSREADER: They criticised what the airport's plans would do, both to the local area and the global environment. GRETA: Small victories are important because they keep the momentum going and shows that activism does actually work and then people get motivated by that and want to continue, it's not for nothing. WOMAN: I am so happy to introduce Greta Thunberg! (CROWD CHEERING) GRETA: Wow, thank you so much for coming! I don't spend time like speculating, is this really possible? World leaders are behaving like children. So it falls on us to be the adults in the room. I know what to do and, and I do it, until I cannot do it anymore. And every single person counts. We can't just give up without trying, only a coward would do that. And I don't think that we are cowards. (END THEME MUSIC PLAYING) Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.