School Strike 4 Climate rallies: Students want net zero by 2035

School Strike 4 Climate activists have rallied online and in the streets, with a message that a 2050 net zero goal just ain’t good enough. See the pictures.

Student activists who couldn’t attend in-person climate strike rallies on Friday because of Covid-19 restrictions took to their phones instead, with plans to jam the inboxes of Australian politicians.

In-person School Strike 4 Climate rallies were held in some 40 cities and regional centres across the country, with organisers claiming a crowd of 3000 in Brisbane and 1500 in Adelaide.

Students in NSW and Victoria were forced to hold online rallies instead, where they were encouraged to “phone jam” and “email jam” the offices of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Environment Minister Sussan Ley and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.

Protesters march through the Adelaide CBD during the School Strike 4 Climate. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

An errant apostrophe aside, there was no masking the sincerity of the message in Adelaide today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Private school girls in the Adelaide rally were conspicuous by their boaters. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Waving the flag for climate today in Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

One hundred per cent renewable energy by 2030 is one of three demands the School Strike 4 Cliamte activists were making today. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Organisers estimated a crowd of 1500 in Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Signs of the times at the Adelaide rally. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Seventeen-year-old Sydney student Natasha Abhayawickrama said organisers had a number of demands, including an end to new coal, gas and oil projects, and a huge escalation of renewable energy targets.

“We also want net zero by 2035 … and for the government to actually treat the climate crisis for what it is, which is a crisis,” she said.

A 2035 net zero target seems like a big ask, when setting 2050 as the goal seems difficult enough, but the students are not the first group to call for it. Earlier this year a group of scientists engaged by the Climate Council issued a report saying Australia and other western nations needed to reach net zero by 2035, or 2040 at the latest, to prevent the most damaging effects of climate change.

Sophia Grimshaw and Magdalena O'Neil of Murrumba state secondary college at the School Strike 4 Climate in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Taking shelter at the School Strike 4 Climate in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Students were not shy about getting political at the Brisbane rally. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Laura Slorach of Narangba Valley state high school at the School Strike 4 Climate in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

“The climate crisis isn’t a future issue; it’s an issue that’s relevant now, because we’ve already seen these impacts,” Ms Abhayawickrama said. “2050 is nowhere near good enough; the impacts of climate change are going to be irreversible by 2035 at the latest, so it’s really important we keep putting on this pressure to get to net zero as soon as we can.”

Fifteen-year-old Anjali Beames from Adelaide said the federal government was “failing young people and future generations”.

“Once we have the vote, we’re going to vote for our future,” she said.

Recent research by Save the Children showed the disparity in the climate that kids today are born into, versus Australians who were born in 1960. An Aussie child born in 2020 would live through four times as many heatwaves and three times as many droughts as their 1960 counterparts, the research found.

Originally published as School Strike 4 Climate rallies: Students want net zero by 2035