Evolving your business shouldn’t cost the earth.
May 7, 2025/
Every couple of months, we delve into a topic using the power of social listening and analytics tool Brandwatch. This month, we look at social media conversation about COP29, identifying a strong engagement with practical action regarding the climate crisis.
COP29, the 2024 UN Climate Conference, took place in Azerbaijan from 11 – 22 November (although final negotiations ran into 23 November). It was dubbed the ‘finance COP’, with negotiations focused on the question of scaling up climate finance. In the aftermath of the summit, our analysis of news media reports identified three main headlines, including:
Top 5 countries by mentions volume:
The Top 5 countries by mentions volume indicates high conversational volume in Western, English-speaking countries (UK, USA), but also high levels of interest in India, Kenya and the Maldives.
Social media conversation at the beginning of the summit focused on the President’s opening speech and Keir Starmer’s announcement of UK plans for emissions reduction, which is consistent with the news media. Later at the summit, conversation focused more on the climate finance deal. Reaction to both the President’s opening remarks and UK plans for emissions reduction drove the peak in conversation on 12 November. A smaller spike on 18 November was driven by negotiations on Article 6.8, described as “an important step in the full operationalisation of Article 6” which deals with carbon markets. Similarly, reaction to the climate finance deal generated an increase in conversation after the summit ended (24 Nov). These high volumes of conversation reflect interest in the news media headlines identified above.
Although key COP29 headlines drove high volumes on social media, the themes driving the highest engagement differed:
While there is significant overlap with the issues driving attention in the media (particularly climate finance and carbon markets), it is notable that significant levels of engagement are driven by posts promoting or highlighting the actions of individuals (or NGOs), showing an interest in and concern for on-the-ground action being stimulated by the summit, rather than just discussion of pledges and actions determined at it.
On social and via news media..
The key COP29 developments that were so prevalent in news media were also reflected in the social media data, with engagements driven by content referencing the climate finance goal, carbon markets discussions and NDCs, often from official COP29 social media accounts. This included a High-Level Round Table on Adaptation Finance and a Troika High-Level Dialogue, which included discussion of NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). There was also significant engagement with Antonio Guterres urging negotiators to “step-up, pick-up the pace, and deliver”.
Mostly on social, less so via news media…
But other talking points from the summit drove engagement, yet received less attention from news media. This included:
While high-profile issues on climate finance and carbon markets drive engagement, other events and decisions attracting attention show concern with young people, gender, biodiversity and cooperation across regions.
Posts highlighting controversy associated with COPs in general, or COP29 in particular, also attracted engagements on social media, from those who support climate action as well as from climate change sceptics. Issues that drew criticism and controversy included:
These criticisms are familiar for those who have been following reporting on the COP29 process this year. The fact that concerns over a lack of action from COP29 are being engaged with by people on social media shows that this is a wide-ranging concern, with people focusing on what is actually being done to deal with climate change.
This focused on people working on the ground to either reduce emissions or combat the effects of climate change, often working in local communities. This takes the form of practical action, from recycling businesses to restoration projects and disaster response. This topic was strongly reflected in social media, with very little attention from news media. The three posts which drove the highest engagement overall included:
Other practical campaigns or actions that people engaged with online included a call to stop galamsey (mining in Ghana), the Save Soil campaign (which was described in one post as “heart-opening”), an organisation trying to persuade people to choose plant-based milk in their coffee order at the summit and an indigenous elder protesting about the actions of a fossil fuel company in her community.
These are practical initiatives that help communities struggling with the effects of climate change or campaigns persuading others to do the same. They are also human stories, featuring real people who are engaging with these issues and working to mitigate the effects of climate change. They are perhaps easier to engage with than big-picture promises from nations and official bodies.
In some respects, the news media are highlighting issues people are interested in, by focusing on key headlines such as the climate finance goal, carbon markets discussions and UK emissions reductions, stories which did draw high volumes of conversation and some engagement on social media, showing that people do have an interest in and an appetite for this news.
However, this does not tell the whole story, as stories which highlighted specific, practical action from individuals and organisations drove strong engagement on social media, but were largely ignored in news media. Further investigation may be needed to determine why specific stories drove such high engagement, but it is clear that there is an appetite on social media for stories about practical action to deal with climate change.
For brands and organisations engaging in climate action, this all serves to highlight the importance of communicating your actions and, where relevant, their impact on communities, rather than just highlighting your promises and pledges, as important as they are. We are past the time of words and into the time of action and this is reflected definitively in people’s higher online engagement with the real stories and tangible action behind climate action rather than just with policies and announcements.
The data behind this blog was powered using Brandwatch, the exceptional social listening and analytics platform.
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