Transnational activists have played a crucial role in promoting multilateral action on climate change at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They successfully lobbied states to negotiate an international agreement on climate change: the 2015 Paris Agreement. Activists have monitored states’ subsequent actions, “naming and shaming” countries that fail to fulfil national targets. While campaigns by non-state activists do not always lead to reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, studies suggest it has important indirect effects by increasing public awareness and informing, and changing, policy debates. Beyond the UNFCCC, climate organizations and wider social movements have also campaigned for states to tackle climate change at other international policy venues such as the G7 and G20 summits, and the United Nations Security Council. Underlying these recent developments are fast-paced changes in the digital environment climate activist organizations operate in. As we discuss here, new digital technologies offer opportunities for activists and international organizations to campaign more effectively for climate action, but also pose significant risks.
New Climate Activist Organizations Forming around the World
Scholars have noted significant shifts in climate advocacy in the past decade. Firstly, new climate action organizations are forming across the world and are rapidly expanding their following. In less than a decade, we have seen the rise of Fridays for Future, the American Sunrise Movement, Last Generation, Just Stop Oil, and Extinction Rebellion, many of which are mobilizing younger people to take to the streets and engage in protest or direct action. We have also seen the emergence of powerful groups of older citizens, such as Bill McKibben’s Third Act, a community of Americans over sixty who campaign for climate action, and KlimaSeniorinnen, a Swiss association of more than 2,500 women aged 64+ who successfully sued the Swiss Government before the European Court of Human Rights for failing to adequately address climate change.
Climate Activists are Forum Shopping
Secondly, climate activist organizations are increasingly ‘forum-shopping’ to identify the most promising institutional venues to pursue climate action. This includes petitioning governments, seeking consultative status at UN organizations and agencies, and using national and international courts to litigate against governments and private corporations. An example is Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change who successfully lobbied most countries at the UN General Assembly to request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on state obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Thirdly, activism is now less focused on the UNFCCC and other intergovernmental policy processes. Instead, it is increasingly decentralized and “multi-scalar” as activists look for “alternative globalities.” Activists focus their energies on multiple levels of government - local, national and regional - as well as businesses, depending on where they perceive the locus of power is, as one of us shows in her book.
Digital Technologies are Helping Climate Activists
Technologies such as satellites, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) offer new opportunities for activists to speed up and make their campaigns more efficient. In our new book Climate Activism, Digital Technologies, and Organizational Change (Cambridge University Press, 2024), we examine different ways in which digital technologies have helped climate activist organizations around the world. We identify the different theories of change that climate activist organizations pursue including mobilizing; lobbying, monitoring and enforcement; and direct action. Drawing on interviews with dozens of activists and building on existing scholarship, we find that technology can enable climate activist organizations to become more efficient at reaching public audiences and decision-makers. Digital technology can also have more transformative effects, prompting activist organizations to pursue entirely new strategies or even redefining the goals they strive for.
In the book we examine how prominent climate organizations, such as Fridays for Future, Greenpeace, and many more, have used social media to broadcast their messages and quickly spread content worldwide. Using social media is cheaper and faster than traditional forms of broadcasting such as radio or television. However, it does not fundamentally transform what these NGOs do. In contrast, more transformative strategies include using social media platforms to “test” campaigns, and to identify the most effective messages or strategic frames (so-called “analytic activism”). Another transformation is the use of digital technology to facilitate new social movements. For example, some Greenpeace chapters have empowered their members to initiate their own campaigns, without involving Greenpeace staff. Fridays for Future has likewise distributed power to its members to set up their own local chapters and initiate local campaigns. In September 2019 Fridays for Future organized one of the largest ever global demonstrations, with an estimated 7.3 million people across 183 countries, coordinating disparate marches through an on-line events map. Anyone, anywhere in the world could join an existing event or launch their own action. While these marches may not by themselves bring political change, they raise awareness and help build networks for more targeted action.
Digital Technology also Risky for Climate Activism
The same technologies that facilitate climate activism also pose challenges and risks, including the spread of disinformation, ongoing digital divides, and use of digital technology to surveil and repress activists. As the founder and former executive director of Access Now, a global non-profit digital rights organization, put it to us: “The internet has stopped being our friend and is increasingly becoming our enemy. The balance has shifted. Tech often weakens activists’ ability to achieve their goals”.
One risk is that climate activist organizations may chase “vanity metrics” looking for viral online campaigns, without actually challenging, or changing, climate policy. Another potential downside is that activists that rely on social media may be at added risk of repression thanks to digital footprints which make it easier for governments and businesses to surveil and target them. For instance, when Egypt hosted COP27 the government promoted an app to navigate the summit, but some raised concerns it was used to spy on civil society and access encrypted messages. International organizers need to ensure that activists who attend multilateral meetings are ensured a safe digital space to do so.
The same technologies that support climate activism may empower opponents of climate action to spread disinformation and encourage climate denialism. For example, a 2020 report by Influence Map found that Facebook earned an annual revenue of $68 million from disinformation ads posted by known climate denier groups. As critics of multilateralism become more powerful and take political office it will be increasingly important for international organizations to find ways to communicate directly to broader publics, and combat conspiracy theories. Digital technology offers one important channel for them to do so.
Finally, tech companies often contribute directly to climate change through extractivism and emissions. Some forecasts suggest that nearly a quarter of all global GHG emissions will come from communication technology by 2030. E-waste is the largest waste stream in many countries, with developing countries bearing a disproportionate burden. In sum, while technology may help to promote climate-friendly products and policies, these technologies are themselves often far from climate friendly. The good news is that activists, and many workers in the tech sector, are challenging the tech industry on its environmental impact, and greenwashing claims. Given the fast-expanding AI industry, which relies on high energy and water consumption, climate activists must continue to monitor and tech companies, alongside states, to account for their greenhouse gas emissions.
About the authors
Nina Hall is Associate Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her 2022 book, Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era, the global emergence of ‘digital-native’ advocacy organizations and their impact on international relations.
Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Her 2022 book, Vigilantes Beyond Borders (with Jason Sharman, Princeton University Press), examines NGOs enforcing international human rights and environmental laws.
This think-piece is based on the authors’ new book Climate Activism, Digital Technologies, and Organizational Change (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
Photo credit: www.freepik.com