Greta Thunberg has crossed the Atlantic aboard the Malizia II sailboat to participate in a UN summit on climate change. The journey from the British port of Plymouth to the North Cove Marina in New York has lasted 14 days and has left no trace of carbon. But he has not been able to erase the "money trail" which, according to the old police aphorism, could connect his environmental campaign with a complex network of ecological multinationals led by Swedish tycoon Ingmar Rentzhog . Many now wonder if the young activist has been used as a puppet by the lobbies and companies that finance her rebellion against climate change.
It all started on August 20 of last year. That day, with 15 years, Greta decided not to go to school and stood in front of the Stockholm Parliament with a banner that said "Skolsrtrejk for Klimatet" (school strike for the weather). After the general elections in her country, the young woman continued to demonstrate once a week for politicians to reduce carbon emissions as established in the Paris Agreement. But I was no longer alone: thousands of children around the world joined the protests of the Fridays For Future movement. The images of the student strikes shocked public opinion and Greta's angry face became a viral phenomenon.
His feat copied the front pages of the newspapers. Reports, interviews and also panegyrics were published requesting his candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize. No one imagined that Thunberg's "spontaneous protest" had been coordinated well in advance by tycoon Rentzhog and Bo Thoren, another climate activist and leader of a movement against fossil fuels. This is confirmed by journalist Justin Rowlatt in an extensive report published by The Times . According to the BBC climate affairs correspondent, Thoren had been looking for fresh faces for his ecological campaigns for some time and came up with the idea of a school strike inspired by youth demonstrations after the Parkland shooting in Florida.
THE LIE OF THE MAGNATE
Rentzhog would be responsible for implementing the plan through the We Don't Have Time platform. He knew the terrain well (he had dedicated years of service to the Climate Reality Project of Al Gore ) and was developing with ease in the media arena. But he made a mistake in confessing to the Dagens' Nyheter newspaper that his first encounter with Greta was casual. As he himself would end up recognizing The Times, a week before the first strike he had received an email from Thoren informing him of the situation. In fact, Rentzhog had met Malena Ernman , Greta's mother, "about three or four months earlier" at a climate change conference in Stockholm.
Malena Ernman earned a living as an opera singer (in 2013 she was entertained with applause after her debut at the Liceo de Barcelona) and came to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Festival. But he gave up his career to follow in the footsteps of his daughter, who was diagnosed with Asperger, "which far from supposing a limitation allows her to see things from another perspective," according to the parent. Overnight, Ernman became vegan and stopped traveling by plane. "Since Greta began school strikes many things have changed in my life," writes the mother in the prologue of the book Scenes From the Heart , which will be published soon in Spain. "Protecting the planet has helped us save our family."
Rather than explaining the reasons that led Greta to take sides in the environmental movement, some people think that the book betrays the corporate interests that hide behind the Greta phenomenon. "Whether or not aware of it, this girl is the spearhead of a pressure strategy that seeks to generate specific business revenues," says the British newspaper. Only a week after the young activist wielded her first banner, her mother's book was already for sale. "The editor of the work, Jonas Axelsson , acknowledges that journalists immediately asked him if the strike was an advertising act of the book." And the author of the investigation adds that Rentzhog is not exactly a low-profile activist.
After passing through the Al Gore organization, the Swedish tycoon worked for energy companies in the environmental lobby with interests in renewables and managed significant investment funds (as he passed through Laika Consulting and the Swedish real estate giant Svenska Bostadsfonden) within a global movement of massive withdrawal of capital from fossil fuel companies. In his client portfolio, we also find billionaire Gustav Stenbeck . Now Rentzhog is in charge of the Global Challenge think tank (also known as Global Utmaning), which was founded by former Social Democratic Minister Kristina Persson after inheriting a fortune and to which important businessmen in the country belong.
Nor has Greta's father, Svante Thunberg, managed to escape the focus of suspicion. This former actor and producer served as his wife's manager until his daughter began to give speeches around the world: from the UN Conference on climate change to the World Economic Forum. Now she accompanies her everywhere (including the transatlantic crossing) and is responsible for managing her agenda. Although he has apparently tried to keep his daughter out of power groups, he has not always been able to guarantee his independence. " Part of Greta's work is being channeled through Daniel Donner , who serves as the girl's press officer," reveals The Times. "Donner works in the office of a Brussels-based lobby known as the European Climate Foundation."
The good intentions that are presumed to Greta have failed to stop the avalanche of criticism. And while a crowd received her among cheers in a small marina south of Manhattan, on social networks there were protests about using a sailboat owned by Pierre Casiraghi, son of the Princess of Monaco, whose Royal House is not characterized precisely for his fight against climate change. Other names linked to Greta's activities have also transpired through Global Challenge: David Olson (inseparable partner of Rentzhog), Anders Wijkman (former president of the Club of Rome), Petter Skogar (director of one of Sweden's leading business organizations ) and Catharina Nystedt Ringborg (a senior executive in the energy sector). They are the names that glide behind the other side of Greta, the green girl .
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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