Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg urged European leaders on Thursday to take emergency action on climate change, saying people in power had practically "given up" on the possibility of handing over a decent future to coming generations.

"We need to see it as, above all, an existential crisis. And as long as it's not being treated as a crisis, we can have as many of these climate change negotiations and talks, conferences as possible; it won't change a thing." Greta said in an interview with Reuters TV.

Thunberg, who lambasted world leaders at a U.N. climate summit last year for believing in "fairytales" of eternal economic growth, said that only fundamental overhaul of the existing system would bring climate change under control.

Thunberg joined several thousand people, including climate scientists, economists, actors and activists in signing an open letter (climateemergencyeu.org) urging European leaders to start treating climate change like an "emergency."

Demands in the letter included an immediate halt to all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, in parallel with a rapid ending of fossil fuel subsidies.

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