She sailed from Plymouth, UK, to New York, United States aboard the racing yacht Malizia II (the Italian for "malice"), returning from Hampton, Virginia, to Lisbon on the catamaran La Vagabonde.
[3] She arranged to make the return voyage on board the catamaran La Vagabonde, departing on 13 November and arriving at the Port of Lisbon on 3 December 2019.
However, she has renounced at least one award and numerous speaking invitations to reduce her own carbon footprint; Thunberg does not fly except for emergency cases.
[5] On 31 May 2019, Greta Thunberg announced during a Fridays for Future event in Vienna, Austria, that she would take a sabbatical year from school (as compulsory education in Sweden ends at 16), and instead attend the climate conferences in America.
[15] Thunberg had intended to remain in the Americas in order to travel overland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Santiago, Chile, in December.
[17] Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu, an Australian couple who had been sailing around the world aboard their 48-foot (15 m) catamaran, La Vagabonde, offered to take her, assisted by professional yacht skipper Nikki Henderson.
"[18][19][20] Thunberg arrived in the Port of Lisbon on 3 December 2019,[21][22] then travelled to Madrid to speak at COP25 where she called for more "concrete action," arguing that the global wave of school strikes over the previous year had "achieved nothing", as greenhouse gas emissions were still rising – by 4% since 2015.
[23][24] The trip was announced as a carbon neutral transatlantic crossing serving as a demonstration of Thunberg's declared beliefs of the importance of reducing emissions.
It was originally championed by Swedish Olympic athlete Björn Ferry but gained significant momentum after Thunberg's well-publicised refusal to fly on environmental grounds, especially the trans-Atlantic voyages, inspiring many people to adopt it.