Off the back of her empowering and emotional speech at the United Nations on Monday, Greta Thunberg has found herself at the centre of debate. Continuing to be a leading voice in the debate surrounding our climate emergency, over the course of the last few days a number of prominent figures have come out to give their opinions on the young activist.  

Although her activism has been widely praised, the 16-year-old has also received criticism – with cynics even citing her Asperger’s syndrome as a reason to discredit her.

More recently, however, it is French billionaire Bernard Arnault who has called out the young activist. Speaking at a sustainability event in Paris, the LVMH owner said, “she’s a dynamic young girl, but she’s surrendering completely to catastrophism… I find that her views are demoralising for young people.” 

Ironically, Arnault was speaking on LVMH’s plans to become more environmentally friendly. The company recently hired vegan designer Stella McCartney as the face of its green initiatives, which they hope will allow the company to become part of the global conversation surrounding climate change. 

Thunberg has taken to Twitter to address the comments she has received: “As you may have noticed, the haters are as active as ever… I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science,” she wrote. “Don’t waste your time giving them any more attention. The world is waking up. Change is coming whether they like it or not.” 

Meanwhile, also at the conference, Kering outlined its plans to become entirely carbon neutral, by offsetting all emissions through a number of methods including financial contributions to reforestation projects and more.