Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was chosen as Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year, the magazine announced Wednesday.

The 16-year-old has found herself in the role of spokesperson for a generation haunted by climate emergency since her solo strike against global warming outside Sweden's parliament last year.

The magazine cover has a picture of Thunberg with the subtitle "The Power of Youth."

Meanwhile, Thunberg yesterday accused wealthier nations of inventing ways to avoid slashing their greenhouse gas emissions, branding their climate action "misleading" at a summit in Madrid.

The UN climate forum tasked with saving the world from runaway global warming has become an "opportunity for countries to negociate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition" to act on climate, the 16-year-old told delegates.