For many, saving the environment is like saving for retirement: important, but often sidelined by politics, business, and daily life.
We know beef farming harms the planet and petrol cars pollute, but the convenience of our habits often wins out.
This isn’t about guilt. It’s about how tough it is to get people to care deeply enough about ecological issues to do something now.
If the last decade has shown us anything, it’s that facts and stats aren’t enough to make people act. But video can cut through the noise and turn heavy topics into engaging, visually compelling stories that inspire action.
As a video production company, passionate about sustainability, we love the format. So, environmental videos that deliver creativity and meaningful impact? That’s right up our street. Here are a few of our favourites.
1. Make Money Matter | Oblivian
Starring Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman, this powerful, direct campaign sheds light on a shocking truth: £88 billion of UK pension savings are invested in fossil fuels. Quite literally lining the pockets of the big oil companies.
The script, sound design and that unnerving smile from Olivia Colman that’s impossible to shake (until the end), are all done to make viewers uncomfortable. Together, these elements make the video impossible to ignore.
If this campaign doesn’t inspire change, I’m not sure what will.
2. Greenpeace | The story of SOW
Using your phone, SOW AR overlays digital imagery of a pig onto the real world, transforming everyday scenes. It’s a clever way to create an immediate connection with our daily lives and large-scale meat and dairy production.
It was created by artist Naho Matsuda in collaboration with the A Drift of Us collective, developed as part of Greenpeace’s Bad Taste project. The app was built by Luigi Honorat to push the boundaries of awareness and advocacy.
And it’s not just a smart campaign combining AR, technology and art (so if you’re into that stuff, you’ll love it). But, if you’re at all switched on to what’s happening on our planet and the environmental pressures we’re all facing — you’ll recognise that it’s a brilliant example of another Greenpeace campaign that has the power to bring about real-world change by lobbying, consumer pressure and mobilising members of the general public.
And we LOVE it.
3. Bar Ogilvy x WWF | The endangered typeface
Earth has faced five mass extinctions before, but the sixth — dubbed the Anthropocene — is the first driven by human activity. Biodiversity is under severe threat, with over a quarter (28%) of assessed species at risk of extinction.
To illustrate this crisis, Bar Ogilvy partnered with WWF Portugal and Lisbon Zoo to create a stunning living font campaign. Each letter represents a threatened animal and fades proportionally as the population of that species declines.
The campaign video sticks to black and white, which really sets a gloomy mood to match the messaging. And animating the letters to fade away is a creative and effective way to create an immediate sense of loss and challenge viewers to act.
4. Västtrafik | Together for reduced emissions
As a proud non-driver, this one really struck me. What will it take to really see how our choices play out in the climate crisis?
In its ad for Västtrafik, the public transport agency, Forsman & Bodenfors tackled this question by turning statistics into stunning visuals.
Having stacked vehicles to form bars on a graph — simply adding the axis in post — is a visually engaging way to show the difference in carbon emission between each mode of transport. And it’s far more memorable than a list of stats on a screen, no?
5. Greenpeace | The Big Plastic Count
In 2022, nearly 250,000 people joined The Big Plastic Count and uncovered a staggering truth: 1.7 billion pieces of plastic packaging are thrown away every week in the UK.
This Greenpeace video delivers a shocking look at our plastic waste through a dynamic, mixed-media montage. Its highly visual, magazine-style format makes the issue and solution feel tangible and engages the viewer. Plus the voiceover and sound design really help it land.
6. Glimpse
Be careful what you pitch for.
Okay, it’s not a video, but we had to share this masterclass in reactive campaigning and creative satire. When news broke that McCann was re-pitching for Saudi Aramco — the world’s largest oil and gas company — campaigners from Glimpse, satirist and musician Oli Frost, and the climate comms lab Utopia Bureau responded with a brilliant spoof agency: Atmospheric.
Atmospheric launched with this witty billboard — as well as a website, LinkedIn page, and a fictional CEO, Jamie Kolkot. All with the mission to offer clients “the social license they need to Keep the Fire Burning™.”
7. Netflix | A Life on Our Planet David Attenborough
The UK’s favourite grandad, David Attenborough, shares his deep passion for exploring the wonders of our planet and his commitment to preserving it for generations to come.
We know by now facts and figures aren’t enough sometimes. So, this honest, insightful and compelling personal reflection aims to hit you in the feels. By having a familiar face we all know and love sharing his hopes for the future, you’re made to give a damn.
8. Netflix | Chasing Coral
Between 2014 and 2017, Chasing Coral documented the most extreme coral bleaching event ever recorded. During that time, 75% of corals were damaged or died because of heat stress from climate change. Projections suggest that if we don’t act now, we’re on course for annual severe bleaching events by 2034. And by 2050, 90% of the world’s coral reefs could be lost – along with the ecosystems they support.
It’s an incredible example of filmmaking on a vast scale: over 500 hours of underwater footage, reports from volunteers across 30 countries, and the collective efforts of more than 500 individuals around the world. The time-lapse framework powerfully reveals a human-made environmental tragedy in the making — one we could still stop with immediate and decisive action.
9. Cowspiracy
Here’s a challenge: watch this and see if you can still carry on eating (as much) meat.
This fly-on-the-wall documentary didn’t come without criticism. It claims that large-scale animal agriculture is the primary cause of greenhouse gases and that the industry comes with a hefty price: deforestation, water pollution, and topsoil erosion.
This doc went viral. For good and for bad. I’m not sure how accurate all of the information was, but it did shine a light on issues most of us may have ignored or not known much about. It brought significant attention to the environmental impact of animal agriculture and issues often overlooked by mainstream environmental groups, prompting discussion and debate.
I’m a sucker for a documentary — I love being a fly on the wall of something that’s real, learning something new and seeing humans at their best (and worst). This might not be everyone’s cup of tea as a doc, but it did force major players to take accountability. Cowspiracy didn’t just raise awareness — it incited action.
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Written by Jamie Field, Executive Producer at Definition
Updated by Sian Evans, Head of Video at Definition on 18/03/2025