Environmental Rickroll: Greta Thunberg sings Rick Astley hit at climate concert

The English singer has given the Swedish teen climate change activist his seal of approval

Greta Thunberg Rickrolled the crowd at the Stockholm Climate Live 2021 concert on October 16. Reuters

As she took to the stage on Friday, Greta Thunberg kicked her speech off by singing the opening words to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, the song that launched the Rickrolling phenomenon.

Swedish environmental activist, Thunberg, 18, was on stage in Stockholm, where she was joined by Fridays for Future's Andreas Magnusson on stage. Eschewing opening remarks on climate change, Thunberg started by speaking the 1987 song's opening line, “We’re no strangers to love…”.

Magnusson then replied with, “You know the rules and so do I.” The music then kicked in and the pair danced on stage.

Astley has tweeted his approval of the Rickroll, sharing a TikTok video of the pair on stage, writing, "Fantastic," and "Tack sa mycket", which translates to 'Thanks so much' from Swedish.

The event was the first in a series of Climate Live 2021 concerts, organised by young climate change activists who aim to "pressure world leaders to take action to combat the climate crisis with a focus on Cop26".

Cop26, the global climate conference, is to take part in Glasgow, Scotland from Sunday, October 31 to Friday, November 12.

Last Saturday's concert was part of a series of youth-led global climate concerts held in 45 countries, led by members of Fridays For Future youth climate groups.

The concerts have been organised to "expand the global movement by engaging a new audience through music" and "raise awareness of the challenges faced today by people on the frontlines of ecological breakdown, as well as the forecasts by scientists about the future".

It was Thunberg's first time singing in public and, after her stint on stage, she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: “At the end of the day, we are just teenagers fooling around with each other, not just the angry kids the media often portrays us as.”