Global climate strike London: All you need to know about September 20 walkout

Millions of people across the world are being encouraged to join global demonstrations demanding action on climate change on September 20.

Inspired by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, young people and adults are being encouraged to strike to protest against global warming.

Activists will also protest the week after, with both days of action following on from nationwide protests earlier this year, which saw thousands of students in the UK skip school calling on Government to make tackling climate change a priority.

This time the young eco-activists, as part of the Youth Strike 4 Climate movement, have asked adults to join in their demonstrations and are hoping for the biggest turn out yet, with NGOs, unions and global companies such as Amazon all backing the call.

Here's all you need to know about the global climate strike:

When is the climate strike?

The first strike will take place on Friday, September 20 and is designed to coincide with a UN emergency climate action summit in New York, with a second strike being held on September 27.

Different organisations have signed up for different strike dates.

Where are strikes taking place?

All over the world, including America, Australia and Germany.

Strikes will take place across the UK again, with the main one happening at Millbank in Westminster at 11am.

Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow will also host protests.

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The TUC has announced it will support the strikes and UNISON has announced action plans across the UK, from Lambeth and Tower Hamlets to Salford, Scotland and Doncaster.

Universities have also thrown their weight behind a number of planned walkouts, as has the PCS union, Unite, NEU and global behemoth Amazon.

What is the climate strike?

School student Greta Thunberg inspired a global movement when she sat in front of the Swedish parliament building to demand action on climate change, inspiring the Fridays for Future movement.

Fridays for Furture evolved into the Youth Strike for Cimate movement, which says its students are "driven by an alarming lack of Government leadership on climate action over previous decades."

The coalition is calling on the Government to declare "a state of climate emergency" and educate the British public in the seriousness of global warming.

They are also demanding changes to the school curriculum which will include education about climate change.

The coalition wants young people to be included in decision-making and is also calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16.

It eventually evolved into the Global Climate Strike movement, which says it needs millions of people to "disrupt business" all over the world, either by protesting or raising awareness in their communities.

Why protest?

Global Climate Strike says humanity needs "to act right now to stop burning fossil fuels", but that "it's going to take all of us working together to succeed".

It says protests will demonstrate that people "are no longer willing to continue with business as usual", with the "urgency of the climate crisis" requiring a "new approach and a just response".

Who is Greta Thunberg?

Greta Thunberg is a teenage schoolgirl from Sweden who has made headlines for her action against climate change.

In August 2018, Greta decided she would stop going to school on Fridays, choosing instead to picket outside the Swedish parliament (Rikstag) to raise awareness of global warming.

Her mission was to pressure the Swedish Government to pass legislation that would reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.

Since her strike action began, she has addressed world leaders at the COP24 United Nations climate change summit and the World Economic Forum.

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