A growing number of celebrities are actively engaging on climate issues. It’s hard to rise to the level of Bad Bunny’s notorious—and fabulous—eco-themed Super Bowl halftime, but there are certainly others. This growing wave of activism reflects a broader shift in the entertainment world toward greater environmental responsibility and collective action. Think of Jon Batiste’s recent song, “Petrichor,” which he calls “a climate warning set to a dance beat”—released just before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
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Other notable celebrity eco-activists include singer-songwriter Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, who partners with nonprofits to reduce his tours’ carbon footprints, Declan McKenna, whose songs, like Jon Batiste’s, highlight the climate crisis, and don’t forget Stella McCartney, a trailblazer in sustainable fashion.
Here are 8 celebrities making a big climate impact right now:
1. Jane Fonda
Long known for her work in film and television, Jane Fonda became a defining voice in climate activism through Fire Drill Fridays. She launched this weekly protest series in 2019 in Washington, DC, to galvanize public demand for urgent federal climate action. Through acts of bold civil disobedience, she directly challenged the fossil fuel industry and amplified calls for environmental justice.
Beyond protests, she established the Jane Fonda Gender and Climate Justice Fund last year to support women-led, frontline organizations advancing equitable climate solutions. She also partnered with Greenpeace to call on global leaders to preserve marine ecosystems and protect our oceans at the United Nations Global Oceans Talks.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio
An Academy Award-winning actor and dedicated environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio has used his global platform to defend wildlife and fight climate change. Through the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, he has funded over 200 projects focused on wildlife conservation, ecosystem restoration, and renewable energy innovation. His 2016 documentary, Before the Flood, brought scientific insights and global climate challenges into living rooms across the planet.
He has also delivered powerful addresses at the United Nations and major climate forums, urging leaders to act with greater ambition. On screen, he brought climate allegory to the mainstream with Don’t Look Up, a satirical film highlighting society’s failure to act on existential threats.
3. Shailene Woodley
Most actresses don’t face arrest for defending clean air and water. Shailene Woodley isn’t most. She was a prominent figure at the 2016 Standing Rock protests in North Dakota against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a crude oil pipeline threatening the Missouri River and Sioux water sovereignty. She was arrested there for her peaceful demonstration. That same year, she co-founded All It Takes, a nonprofit organization empowering the next generation to be civic and climate leaders.
More recently, she joined fellow actors and activists (like Jane Fonda and Joaquin Phoenix) in a 2023 open letter, led by Greenpeace, to President Biden, urging stronger U.S. leadership on the Global Plastics Treaty to curb plastics production. “99% of plastics come from fossil fuels,” the letter notes. “Cutting plastic production will make a significant dent in carbon emissions.”
4. Rosario Dawson
An actor and lifelong activist, Rosario Dawson has used her platform to advance climate and environmental justice for over two decades. She is the co-founder of Voto Latino, which empowers young Latinos to engage civically on issues like clean air, clean water, and climate resilience. As she puts it, “We’re watching what’s happening across this planet with oceans getting warmer, glaciers melting, coral bleaching, storms. It’s really critical to highlight what we can be doing to get more climate-courageous legislators in office.”
In 2023, she launched the Rio Dawn Foundation to offer financial support to organizations advocating for all the causes she holds dear, including those fighting for environmental justice.
5. Chappell Roan
As a new voice in music, Chappell Roan built her early style not from luxury labels but from thrift stores and personal craftsmanship—sewing, altering, and reimagining secondhand pieces into performance-worthy art. This practice was a quiet act of resistance to fast fashion’s waste. Her now iconic butterfly wings, worn at Coachella 2024, were custom-made and later reused, a deliberate choice aligning with circular fashion principles. Through her thoughtful art and style, she invites fans to see sustainability not as a sacrifice, but as an outlet for creativity.
6. Childish Gambino
Singer and actor Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino, channels climate concern into his creative work with poetic urgency. His 2018 song “Feels Like Summer” blends a catchy pop beat with poignant lyrics that urge listeners to face the reality of climate change: “Everyday gets hotter than the one before / Runnin’ out of water it’s about to go down / Air that kills the bees we depend upon / Birds were made for singing, waking up to no sound.” The accompanying music video, where children vanish one by one underneath a relentless sun, mirrors the song’s warning. Through his work and advocacy, he draws attention to how communities of color and low-income populations bear the brunt of environmental harm—from the urban heat islands depicted in the “Feels Like Summer” music video to polluted air and water.
7. Mark Ruffalo
The Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo became a climate activist after energy companies threatened to drill a fracking well near his family farm in upstate New York. Fracking is the environmentally harmful process of injecting a chemical-laced fluid into rock formations deep underground to extract methane gas, a potent climate pollutant. Fighting against fracking in his hometown led Mark to co-found The Solutions Project, a philanthropy that for 12 years has been dedicated to funding and amplifying community-led, equity-focused projects to cut climate pollution and build people power.
He also brought environmental injustice to the big screen in the 2019 film Dark Waters, portraying the attorney who exposed DuPont’s decade-long dumping of PFAS, or toxic “forever chemicals,” into an unlined landfill, contaminating local groundwater. The movie put a national spotlight on the intersection of corporate accountability and public health.
8. Billie Eilish
A leading young climate advocate, Billie Eilish is known for her eco-friendly concert tours—they have, among other eco-nods, water refill stations to reduce plastic waste. Through her Changemaker Program, her sold-out “Hit Me Hard and Soft” Tour in 2024–25 raised $11.5 million for climate and food equity initiatives, including Ocean Conservancy’s Protect Where We Play program. A longtime vegan, Billie Eilish also promotes a low-carbon plant-based diet and supports projects cutting the music industry’s climate footprint, educating and inspiring fans.
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