Social media users share out-of-context Greta Thunberg quote about 'saving banks'

The 10-second clip of Thunberg saying "the money is there, if we can save the banks, then we can save the world", was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, here on July 31, 2023.

"GRETA - Saying the quiet parts out loud. The only way to save the planet is to save the banks…Script written by Global banks," reads the caption.

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A screenshot of the misleading claim, captured on August 23.

The clip has been shared more than 4,500 times alongside similar misleading claims by social media users in Britain here and here, the United States and Iceland.

But the clip is part of a longer statement by Thunberg that has been taken out of context.

A keyword search on Google found the video's original version posted to US online media outlet The Intercept's official YouTube channel on September 13, 2019 (archived link).

The video shows Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein speaking to Thunberg at "The Right To A Future" event organised by The Intercept in New York on September 9, 2019, where youth leaders discussed how to tackle the climate emergency (archived link).

The corresponding section of Thunberg's statement that has been taken out of context can be heard in the original video at the eight-minute, two-second mark.

Klein asks Thunberg if she has a response to the idea that it's too expensive to deal with climate change, to which Thunberg says: "The money is there, if we can save the banks, then we can save the world."

"If there's something we are not lacking in this world, it's money. And I mean, of course, many people do lack money, but governments and these people in power, they do not lack money," she continues. Thunberg further adds that it is the polluters who need to pay for the damage they have caused to the planet.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the misleading posts (left) and the original video by The Intercept (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the clip in the misleading posts (left) and the original video by The Intercept (right).

Thunberg has previously criticised financial corporations for their role in funding fossil fuel companies.

In early August, the young climate activist pulled out of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where she had been invited to speak, citing a sponsor's "heavy" investments in fossil fuel and accusing them of "greenwashing".

And in June, Thunberg joined other protesters who unveiled giant dollar signs to put pressure on leaders meeting at the summit for a new financial pact to "put an end" to fossil fuel financing.

Ahead of the COP 26 summit in Scotland in 2021, Thunberg joined other activists in a protest outside the headquarters of Standard Chartered in London to demand banks stop financing polluting projects, such as fossil fuel extraction.

Thunberg has been repeatedly targeted with misinformation, debunked by AFP here and here.