Penelope Lea | |
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Born | |
Known for | Environmentalism, climate change mitigation |
Penelope Lea is a Norwegian climate activist who became the second-youngest ambassador for UNICEF at the age of 15. [1]
Lea is from Kjelsås, Oslo. Her mother is a children's book writer. [2] When she was eight, Lea joined the Eco-Agents, a youth climate group. She gave her first speech aged nine at a Nature and Youth national camp. [3] She was elected as a board member of the Eco-Agents when she was 11. [1] At twelve, Lea was one of seven people to join the Children's Climate Panel, founded by the Eco-Agents. [3]
In 2018, Lea became the youngest nominee for the Frivillighetsprisen (Volunteer Award), at the age of fourteen. [3] She won the award and donated the kr 50,000 ( US$6,000 in 2019) prize to a lawsuit filed jointly by Greenpeace and Nature and Youth against the Norwegian government for its oil contracts. [4]
In 2019, Lea became a climate advisor to Knut Storberget and was a youth ambassador for Norway at the UNICEF summit for World Children's Day. [5] [6] In October 2019, Lea became the first climate ambassador for UNICEF; her age of 15 made her the second-youngest UNICEF ambassador in history. [1] [7] [8] She was the fifth Norwegian ambassador and the first to be appointed since 2007. [9] At the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), Lea was one of five child activists to speak at an event organized by UNICEF and the OHCHR. [10]