Felix Finkbeiner

At the age of nine, Felix Finkbeiner developed his vision during a school presentation on the topic of the "climate crisis": Let's plant a million trees in every country on earth. This was the beginning of the children's and youth initiative Plant-for-the-Planet. At just 13, Felix gave a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York. In it, he appealed to the world to jointly plant 1,000 billion trees, which would bind 25% of man-made CO2 emissions. For his commitment, Felix was named one of the 20 Green Giants by the Guardian and one of the 100 most influential Germans by FOCUS magazine. He was also awarded the Bavarian State Medal and the Honorary Award of the German Cultural Prize. In 2015, he was named European of the Year, and in 2016, the Junior Business Association of the World selected him as one of the 10 most outstanding young people in the world. In May 2018, the Federal President awarded Felix the Federal Cross of Merit for his commitment to climate justice. At the age of 10, Felix was already a member of the Junior Board of the United Nations Environment Programme.