Early in 2019, Greta secured a commitment from the president of the European Union that fully a quarter of all E.U. spending would be directed at climate adaptation and mitigation; she had just turned sixteen. By the summer, Extinction Rebellion had helped pressure British Parliament to declare a climate emergency—a Parliament under conservative control and consumed by the specter and politics of Brexit. On her way out the door, Theresa May committed the country to carbon neutrality by 2050. Her successor, Boris Johnson, promised a ban on the sale of all non-electric cars by 2030.
