Greta Thunberg says Arnold Schwarzenegger offered to lend her his electric car

After United Nations speech, Swedish activist heads to Canada for climate strike

Greta Thunberg has a fan in Arnold Schwarzenegger, who offered to let the 16-year-old climate activist borrow his electric car as she makes her way from the United Nations to Canada for the latest climate strike in Montreal.

Her campaign has grown from a lone protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018 to a carbon-free, transatlantic sailing mission that brought her to New York and the United Nations. Her efforts have galvanised thousands of schoolchildren to participate in demonstrations this September, urging global powers to combat climate change.

Last year, the former California governor and star of The Terminator wrote on Twitter that he was inspired by Greta’s campaign and loves “seeing someone who doesn’t just complain but gets out and does something about it”.

Schwarzenegger said he was “starstruck” when they met in person at a conference in Austria in May.

On an upcoming appearance on Swedish talk show Skavlan, Greta said “one of the funniest offers I’ve received is that Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered me to lend his electric car if I want to”, according to a translation by Newsweek.

The show has followed her to New York, where she delivered an impassioned speech to the United Nations on Monday, shaming global powers for their inaction in the face of a growing climate crisis.

She told delegates: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

On Twitter, President Donald Trump appeared to mock her speech, which she delivered through tears, by saying: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”

She told Skavlan that she knew Mr Trump was likely so say something about her speech, but his commentary “doesn’t make any difference, in a way”. She also changed her Twitter bio: “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”

The interview is scheduled to air on Friday.