Greta Thunberg is Time magazine's Person Of The Year

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who has led worldwide protests demanding global action on the issue, is Time magazine's Person Of The Year.

Thunberg, 16, has been calling the world's attention to what she describes as a "climate emergency".

In the announcement, the magazine said: "For decades, researchers and activists have struggled to get world leaders to take the climate threat seriously. But this year, an unlikely teenager somehow got the world's attention."

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"She is an ordinary teenage girl who, in summoning the courage to speak truth to power, became the icon of a generation."

Thunberg said she was "a bit surprised" by the award, and added she wanted to dedicate it to all young activists.

She said she is planning to head home to Sweden for some rest during the Christmas holidays, adding: "If you don't take breaks, you won't be able to continue."

The announcement by Time came as she attended UN climate talks in Madrid.

Speaking at the UN conference, the Swedish teenager told delegates: "I still believe the biggest danger is not inaction.

"The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR."

Thunberg said science showed that the world is set to use up the whole "carbon budget" - the amount of pollution that can be put into the atmosphere and still keep global warming to 1.5C (34.7F) - in eight years at the current rate of emissions.

She warned that people are dying from the climate crisis at even 1C (33.8F), and going beyond 1.5C risks destabilising the climate and hitting irreversible tipping points such as melting glaciers and permafrost.

Governments meeting at the talks are facing increasing pressure to take more action to cut greenhouse gases to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Earlier this year, Greta sailed across the Atlantic to attend the conference after it was moved from Chile to Madrid.

She has travelled around the world to spread her message in a series of powerful speeches, talking to world leaders at international summits or the business elite in Davos.

In one of her memorable appearances last September, she scolded global leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly, telling them: "You have stolen my dreams".

Her seemingly angry look at US President Donald Trump was caught on camera and went viral.

The activist's latest talk focused on the science and "misleading" actions of politicians and big business.

She said that countries which had committed to reducing their emissions to zero by a certain date - such as the UK with its legally binding pledge for net-zero by 2050 - was impressive at first glance.

But she pointed out that the targets did not include aviation and shipping, or the emissions created by goods made in other countries and imported, and included "offsetting emissions".

She continued: "Zero by 2050 means nothing if high emissions continue for even a few years. Then the remaining budget will be gone."

Greta, who began the climate strikes with a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament last year, ended her speech by telling delegates: "There is hope - I've seen it - but it does not come from the governments or corporations, it comes from the people.

"The people who have been unaware are now starting to wake up."

Last year's Time winners included murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, where five people were shot dead; Philippine journalist Maria Ressa; and two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.