Hannah Richardson
BBC News education and social affairs reporter

Image source, Getty Images

I’m standing in shadow of the Houses of Parliament in London: group after group of school pupils are passing the end of the building, passing chants and energy to each other as they process towards the rally in Millbank.

It’s getting louder and louder, the cries of "climate justice" echoing out with an energy that only young children can muster.

These are 10-year-olds and eight-year-olds and they are fired up and angry - but terribly well behaved - just being allowed to use their voices for once.

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Lagos

Image source, Mayeni Jones

Despite climate change being a very real threat for many people living in Nigeria, the turn-out at the protest in the country's largest city is low.

There are currently around 30 protesters at the event in Lagos, each carrying a placard warning of the dire consequences of rising global temperatures.

Lagos is a coastal city and sea levels are rising, but many people live in abject poverty so climate activism is not top of their priority list.

Most people are too busy hustling to make a living to protest.

But in the capital, Abuja, it's a very different story.

Hundreds of people have turned out for the strike, many wearing green Action Aid t-shirts.

Several protesters carried a large sign which reads: "There is no climate justice without gender justice."

Image source, Mayeni Jones

Seye Adegbpye, 37, is at the Lagos protest.

She told the BBC: "I'm here today because this is important, we have 12 years to turn things around.

"I’ve lived in Lagos 20 years and in that time I’ve noticed that every year water levels get higher and flooding here gets worse and worse.

"The city is also getting hotter and hotter.

"Even though there aren’t many of us here today, I’m hoping our government will hear our requests and implement policies such as increasing the number of trees that are planted around the city."

Image source, Mayeni Jones

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

You may be planning to miss work to strike, but are you legally allowed to do so?

Some businesses - such as Ben and Jerry’s and Lush - are actively supporting the climate strike by shutting up shop, for either some or all of today. Thousands of tech companies like Tumblr and Wordpress have also joined a Digital Climate Strike, by putting banners up on their websites in support of strikers.

But for people who work for companies where it’s business-as-usual, taking the day off to strike can be a bit more tricky - especially for those in insecure or precarious work. As the strike’s organisers say, “on a grossly unequal planet, some of us can’t do without a single day’s pay, and some of us work for bosses who would fire us if we dared try”.

Image source, Getty Images

Fiona Colwell, from Paul Robinson Solicitors in London, has spoken to BBC 5Live to offer some advice.

In a nutshell, she says, “it comes down to each employee’s individual contract with their employer”.

There may be a clause in your contract explicitly allowing you to strike, but this “would be a very rare thing indeed,'' she warns. Instead of just missing the day, she recommends speaking to your boss about it beforehand. Some employers, she adds, may be willing to let you strike because they’re sympathetic to the cause. “Any employee considering they might like to join the strike should speak to their employer.”

This doesn’t need to be a scary conversation. Andrew Leng, who runs his own engineering company, earlier explained to BBC 5Live why he was letting his workers join the strikes:

If your boss isn't as understanding as Andrew, or you work in a job where you simply can't take the day off (like a doctor or firefighter), the Global Climate Strike website, external has some tips for joining in anyway - including going to a march on your lunch break, organising small events with colleagues at work, or wearing a badge or armband to show your support for the strike.

Teenager Gina Hale is among the thousands of protesters taking part in a day of climate action. The student, 16, from Brisbane said she felt compelled to protest after learning about the effects of climate change in school.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

Image source, Twitter/350 Pacific

We're used to seeing city streets packed out with protesters - but this group of activists have been holding their demonstration somewhere a bit more remote.

Young people from the Solomon Islands are staging a climate strike on the beaches of Marovo Island, according to the campaign group 350 Pacific.

Here they are arriving on the island by boat:

The Solomon Islands, a collection of more than 900 tiny islands in the South Pacific with a population of about 640,000, are among the worst hit by the climate crisis.

Rising sea levels, intensifying storms and unpredictable seasons are all threatening people's livelihoods. According to the UN, the sea level has already risen an average of 8mm per year, while warming seas are harming the islands' fishing industry.

Many islanders have already been forced to leave their homes, but much of the higher ground in Solomon Islands is volcanic, unsuitable for human habitation.

Keiligh Baker
BBC News, London

Image source, PA Media

We've already filled you in on what's happening in the capital - the schoolkids from south London we've been following have now made it into the centre of town. But what's going on elsewhere in the UK?

• Children and young people are taking part in more than 150 demonstrations across the country calling for action on climate change
• Hundreds of thousands of workers expected to join them
• Strikes are organised in cities including Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and more
• Among the many trade unions throwing their weight behind the strikes are the TUC Congress, the University and College Union and Unite
• Protesters joining the climate strikes in Britain can, appropriately, expect a day of unseasonably warm weather as they call on businesses and politicians to cut emissions

You can follow our updates on the UK protests here.

Image source, Ayan Farah

Living in sub-Sahara, I can't help but be aware of the glaring effects of climate change. More and more we find ourselves facing extreme iterations of weather. Longer, hotter, drier months followed by short but intense periods of rain.

We're fluctuating between drought and floods in ways we're not prepared for. We're living in such dire and extraordinary times that we only have a few years to turn this around. Mitigating the damage we have wrought, for me, means recognising that what we've been doing doesn't work. We have to shift our economic, social and political focus towards concrete solutions for the climate emergency.

I'm participating in the climate strike because I feel like we need to remember how to be a community again. We need our president to know that we want and expect him to honour the pledge he made to make Kenya 100% renewable by 2020.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

We keep getting told to cut back on meat and dairy - or at least do “meat-free Mondays”.

But what sort of carbon footprint does your diet actually have? Is wine more environmentally friendly than beer? And how is it possible that a bar of chocolate can emit more greenhouse gas emissions than beef?

Our handy food calculator can help answer all those questions - and help you decide how to reduce your personal environmental footprint.

For example, a study from the University of Michigan found that eating a vegetarian meal one day a week could save as much carbon as a 1,160 mile car ride.

As Oxford University researcher Joseph Poore says: "What we eat is one of the most powerful drivers behind most of the world's major environmental issues.”

Hannah Richardson
BBC News education and social affairs reporter

It’s quiet here in sunny central London but people are beginning to gather.

This time the climate strike organisers have called on adults to help them. It means that even the wry youngest protesters can join in with their parents in tow.

I’m about the meet some very young pupils coming from their school in south London to have their voices heard.

One of the organisers of the London part of the strike said she expected tens of thousands of people to gather here today. She said environmentalism is mainstream now and young people have a solution.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

We've known about climate change for a while now, and the need for action is becoming increasingly urgent. We're already seeing severe weather events caused by climate change, including wildfires and flooding, that are affecting people's lives and livelihoods.

So what's the hold-up?

Last year, our environment correspondent Matt McGrath explained why our leaders are moving so slowly, and what needs to be done to get things back on track.

Keiligh Baker
BBC News, London

Image source, Getty Images

It's a lot of take in, so just to bring you up to date on what's happened so far and what is yet to come:

• Children across Asia and the Pacific kicked off what may end up being the largest ever global climate protest on Friday
• From Sydney to Seoul, Manila to Mumbai, children and teenagers walked out of lessons and marched with placards calling for change
• They are demanding that adults act now to stop environmental disaster
• In Australia, organisers say more than 300,000 people took part in Friday's protests
• In Thailand young protesters stormed into the environment ministry and pretended to "die" as they demanded government action on climate change
• More than 5,000 events have been planned worldwide with protests and marches across Europe, Africa and the US kicking off in the next few hours
• The protest will culminate in New York on Friday evening where teenage activist Greta Thunberg is expected to speak

• A Youth Climate Summit will take place at the United Nations on Saturday
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will then host an emergency summit on Monday in which he will urge world leaders to raise their commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate accord

David Molloy
BBC News, London

An hour ago, we told you that India may see its largest ever climate protest today.

By one metric, India has had a fruitful few years, in that it has had the fastest growing significant economy in the world.

But India - and South Asia generally - faces potentially disastrous consequences if global warming continues at its current pace.

By the end of the century, temperatures in Delhi in summer will be two degrees Celsius hotter - and that’s in a best-case scenario. It could be more than five degrees warmer.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that the scarce food, higher prices, and displacement of people it expects as a result of climate change will hit disadvantaged populations hardest.

And despite its economic progress, much of India’s population remains poor. Many of them live on the coastline, depending on the sea for their income - and rising waters threaten that lifestyle. Mumbai has the world’s largest population at risk of coastal flooding, the World Bank says.

Paul Kirby
BBC Europe online editor

Image source, AFP

There's some interesting context to the protests in Germany later today.

As many as 500 protests are expected there as the coalition government tries to finalise its multi-billion euro climate strategy. One of the first demonstrations took place in Frankfurt, where activists blocked traffic in the central Baseler Platz. Protesters in Berlin used red and white tape to cordon off streets and the bridge over the River Weser in Bremen was also blocked.

The government needs to up its game to meet its 2030 pledge of cutting carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels.

Political leaders from the ruling centre-right parties and the Social Democrats have taken part in 15 hours of talks that went on through the night into Friday morning. The sticking point is over the introduction of carbon pricing for transport and heating emissions. An announcement is expected at 14:30 (12:30 GMT).

Keiligh Baker
BBC News, London

Pictures of protests taking place all over the world are flooding in.

And despite the miles separating the strikes, a common theme has emerged in the photos - most of the protesters are really young.

From teenage girls in Bangladesh wearing their school uniforms as they march in protest to primary school pupils waving placards in Melbourne, they are all united in their desire for climate justice and an end to the use of fossil fuels.

And there's more to come. Children and young people across the globe are preparing to walk out of lessons and lectures, with millions of workers expected to join them.

You can read our piece on the schoolgirl climate warriors here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty

Hannah Richardson
BBC News education and social affairs reporter

Among the thousands expected to attend the demonstrations in central London later will be about 60 pupils from John Stainer Community Primary school in Brockley, south-east London.

Sue Harte, the school’s headteacher, is leading the group, as well as their parents and the 16-member school council.

“We will all walk together,” Sue says. “We are going for two reasons - on the basis that climate change is clearly a big issue and we have woven it into every subject in the curriculum.

“The other thing is that part of British Values teaching is that children need to know that they have a right to democratic protest.

“Our parents are hugely supportive - everybody is so happy that we are doing this - sensibly and reasonably - we are not going mad.

“This is their world they are growing into and they need to be aware that they can make a difference.”

Image source, Sue Harte

Protests are planned across Europe on Friday - here's just a snapshot of what you can expect over the next few hours:

• In London several strikes are due to take place throughout the day from 09:00BST including at Westminster, the home of UK politics, Islington, Lambeth and Croydon
• Strikes are also organised across the UK in cities including Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and more
• In Paris the protest will kick off at 12:30 local time (11:30BST) at Place de la Nation, with dozens more planned across the country
• Two climate strikes be held in Berlin at 12:30pm (11.30BST) and 19:30 (18.30BST) with another protest planned in the city next week
• Madrid is set to host two protests at 11:00 (10:00) and 12:00 (11:00BST)
• And across Greta Thunberg's native Sweden, 10 protests are set to take place on Friday, including a "pre-climate strike" in Gothenburg at 09:00 (08:00BST) and another in Stockholm at 19:00 (18:00BST)

Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent

Climate change and what that means for my five- and eight-year-old's future is a big topic of discussion at our dinner table. The kids are often the ones to remind me: take a cloth bag to the supermarket, don’t use plastic. My daughter will question the use of plastic straws.

On a family holiday recently, my five-year-old chided a tourist for throwing his plastic bottle into the ocean - and told him that it could end up killing a dolphin or a manta.

But scariest of all for them, perhaps, is the idea that the place they know as home - Jakarta - could one day face a reality where parts of it would be underwater.

It’s heartening to see the younger generation paying attention to something I wish I had thought more about and paid more attention to. I hope it’s not too late.

Read more: Jakarta: The fastest sinking city in the world

Aparna Alluri
BBC News, Delhi

Image source, EPA

Indians in several towns and cities are expected to march through the day in what could well be the biggest climate change protest the country has seen.

The capital Delhi – which has often made headlines for its toxic air – will see two marches today. Students and environmental activists are expected to turn up in large numbers not just today but over the course of the week as organisations have planned marches until 27 September.

This isn’t the first time that students in India will be joining the global movement. Many local affiliates of Friday for Futures have sprung up in India in the year since Greta Thunberg walked out of her school, kicking off her campaign against global warming.

Climate change has increasingly become an issue in the world’s second most populous country – heat waves have been on the rise in recent years; severe water shortages regularly plague the largest cities; and melting Himalayan glaciers, which feed some of India’s biggest rivers, pose a grave threat.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

We've seen a lot of people taking to the streets, but what exactly do they want?

Well, you may have seen the term “climate justice” cropping up a lot during these strikes.This is a way of looking at the climate crisis as not just an environmental issue, but also a political and ethical one. Globally, the countries and communities hardest by climate change are also the poorest. In order to achieve climate justice, activists say, the world’s political and economic systems need to be reformed.

Strikers have a lot of different goals they want governments to hit in order to achieve climate justice, but the overarching aim is for governments to pledge to abandon fossil fuels and switch to 100% renewable energy by next year.

Image source, Getty Images

Other goals include making sure developed countries take greater financial responsibility for historically being the main drivers of the crisis, and ending “corporate interference” in climate talks.

This, they say, is the key to a “rapid energy revolution with equity, reparations and climate justice at its heart”.

You can read about strikers’ demands in more detail on the sites for the Global Climate Strike, externaland the People’s Demands for Climate Justice, external

Roland Hughes
BBC News, London

We're expecting huge numbers to march in the middle of the city from about 11:00, a mile from where we're sitting right now. We'll bring you more of their stories over the day.

One of those who will be protesting is 18-year-old Anna Taylor, who's been speaking to our colleagues on Radio 4's Today programme about what she feels the British government should be doing to respond to climate change.