Teenage Fridays For Future activist challenges German carmaker BMW at AGM

The 18-year old student and Fridays ForFuture activist Ferdinand Klemm has challenged shareholders at German carmaker BMW’s annual general meeting to think less about current dividends and more about what climate change and the necessary transition to clean transport mean for the company’s mid-term future, reports Max Hägler in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Klemm’s appearance is yet further proof that the student climate action movement isn’t just protesting on the streets, but is taking action directly to the centres of power, writes Hägler.

Fridays For Future activists also appeared at Volkswagen’s general meeting this week, and at the annual meeting of energy company and lignite mine operator RWE at the beginning of the month. Students around the world are walking out of school on Fridays to demand faster action on climate change. The protests were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who began skipping school in August 2018. In the beginning, these protests were mainly directed at governments, but have now extended the focus, as shown by the appearances at shareholder meetings. Companies like the German carmakers have been laggards in regards to climate action for some time, and now are in a hurry to catch up to innovate and scale up clean transport solutions to make head against international competitors.