The Foundation and its Mission

The Greta Thunberg Foundation works to support sustainability from a holistic perspective, promoting ecological, climatic and social sustainability.

The Foundation was founded in 2019 to create a transparent way of distributing funds from awards, royalties or donations linked to the Foundation’s activities and Greta’s activism to organisations and movements working for a just and sustainable world. The mission of the Foundation is to work globally for a sustainable climate, a socially sustainable society, a good environment, preservation of biodiversity, human rights and animal rights in the long term. The mission has been shaped to ensure it is aligned with Greta’s values.

However, the sustainability crisis cannot be solved with money alone. To support the mission of the Foundation, we recommend that you inform yourself about the crisis and get involved in advocating for real climate action and system change. You can also support the mission of the Foundation by donating directly to the organisations and groups doing work in line with the Foundation’s mission. By way of example, here are some of the Foundation’s latest donations.

The Foundation is independent and without political and religious ties. It was founded by Greta’s parents Malena Ernman and Svante Thunberg - as Greta was a minor at the time - and it is registered in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Foundation's board

Members of the board are: Lina Burnelius, Erika Jangen, Johan Rockström and David Fopp. The board members volunteer their time, experience and expertise to this charity. Erika Jangen is remunerated for her work as Director of the Foundation.

  • Lina Burnelius, Chair of the board, is project leader and International coordinator for Protect the Forest Sweden. She is a sustainability expert with experience in global sustainable development implementation and policy. Lina has been coordinating processes and programs locally and globally for environmental and sustainability issues to enable ‘glocal’ sustainability.

  • Erika Jangen, Director of the Foundation, has a background in law, and has spent most of her career working on democracy, environmental and sustainability advocacy both in the public and private sectors.

  • Johan Rockström, is Professor in Earth system science at the University of Potsdam, and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK) in Germany. He acts as Climate Advisor to the board, providing it with information and advice from a wide range of scientific experts.

  • David Fopp, PhD in philosophy, is a fellow at Marc-Bloch-Zentrum/Humboldt University Berlin in sustainability studies. As a climate justice activist and former senior lecturer at Stockholm University, he has acted as a link between the youth climate movement and the scientific community since the early days of Fridays for Future.

The Foundation’s auditor and accountant is Grant Thornton.

Legal experts Paulina von Euler and Henning Isoz have had an important advisory role in the Foundation, given the complexity of foundation law. Paulina von Euler is the Founder and CEO at von Euler & Partners in Stockholm, a family office that has advised foundations since 2002. Henning Isoz has a background in the Swedish Ministry of Justice since the beginning of the 1980s, where he wrote the basis for the Swedish law on foundations. He has since been primarily engaged in legal matters relating to foundation law.