Last year, non-profit group Good Energy launched what it called a Bechdel Test for climate change, analyzing the year’s Oscar nominees to see which films cover climate change — or at least refer to it as a part of reality. Only three movies passed the initial test, and among 2025’s nominees, just a single film serves as a reminder about the impact climate change has on our environment.
That movie is “The Wild Robot,” nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars, and it’s the only one of 11 different films (out of 30 Oscar-nominated features) that met Good Energy’s requirements as to whether a movie should acknowledge the existence of climate change: 1) Being set on Earth, and 2) Taking place in the present, recent past, or near future. (We’ll let the “near future” element of “Wild Robot” slide just a bit.)
Only “The Wild Robot” did two simple things necessary to then pass the real test: “The Wild Robot” showed a world in which it is clear climate change exists, and that a character in the film knows it.
It’s one heck of a representation too. “The Wild Robot” includes a glorious moment of world building where whales can be seen swimming over the remnants of the Golden Gate Bridge — that’s how much the tide has risen. Good Energy also singled out one particular scene in “The Wild Robot” in which the protagonist robot Rozzum finds a travel pamphlet on the ground that reads “Florida — More Shoreline Than Ever!” It’s a throwaway joke, but Good Energy was tickled that the animators took the time to make the pamphlet’s map closely resemble projected sea-level rise.
“That’s the world we enter in ‘The Wild Robot,’ where climate impacts and situations — from sea-level rise to hints that humans have isolated themselves in climate-safe, domed cities — are subtly woven into the fabric of the storyworld,” the Good Energy study analyzing the various nominees reads.
The film passed their test even though the words “climate change” are not explicitly spoken, but the animals all acknowledge the looming “worst storm I’ve ever seen,” and that “collaboration and compassion are the way to survive our climate future,” as the study adds.
The other 10 films that met Good Energy’s qualifying criteria to even take the Bechdel Test of sorts include “A Different Man,” “A Real Pain,” “Anora,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Inside Out 2,” “Sing Sing,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” and “The Substance.” None of those films are environmental parables the way “The Wild Robot” is, but Good Energy argues that just representing climate change via casual references in a story helps ground a film in reality and raise awareness to the public about the urgency of the matter.
Among 2025’s nominees, Good Energy also touted “Flow,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and “Dune: Part Two” as other films that explore climate themes, though they did not meet the qualifying criteria. Last year, the Oscar nominees that checked both boxes of Good Energy’s test were “Barbie,” “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1,” and “Nyad.”
Anna Jane Joyner, the founder and CEO of Good Energy, said she believes Hollywood has found ways of talking about climate change in movies without resorting to stories about ecoterrorists or “neighbors yelling at you about your recycling.”
“After a harrowing year in which we all experienced the climate crisis, we desperately need more stories that help us find meaning and courage in the face of it,” Joyner said. “‘The Wild Robot’ is an enchanting depiction of life in the age of climate change — a poignant exploration of resilience, overcoming fears and differences, and the power of community in an uncertain world. While we look forward to the day when more Oscar-nominated films reflect our reality, we couldn’t be more thrilled that a story with such artistry and emotional depth has done so this year.”
See the full Good Energy study here.
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