COP26's Biggest Names and Moments

Brandwatch Bulletin #96: COP26's Biggest Names and Moments

Is this the turning point?

12 November 2021

In what could be one of the most important conferences of all time, COP26 concludes today. We decided to take a look at the conversation around the event to see who and what have made waves.

Let’s get to it.

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COP comes but once a year (except 2020)

COP26, or the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, is finishing up in Glasgow as we speak. The world’s leaders descended upon Scotland to hammer out deals and commitments in order to save the planet once and for all (something they’ve done 25 times already).

Due to Covid, the last conference to take place was back in 2019. You may have noticed that everything has happened since then, including ramped up interest in the climate emergency.

With extreme weather events now the norm, and time running out until we turn our blue marble into a desolate rock, there are bigger expectations for COP26 compared to previous years. We can see this when we compare the online conversation around the last five conferences.

COP26 has been mentioned 2.7 times more than the previous four conferences combined so far. That is not a difference that can be explained by the year-long postponement.

Aside from the drastic increase in volume, it’s notable that the conversation started far earlier. For COPs 22 to 25, they were barely mentioned outside of the event’s duration. The COP26 conversation gained momentum as COP25 finished and has built steam since November 2020.

In fact, COP26 received nearly three times the number of mentions between Jan – Sep 2021 that COP25 did for the whole of 2019. It really feels like people see this year as the last gasp chance to reverse climate change before it’s too late.

The big moments

There have been high levels of conversation throughout the conference, but there have been plenty of spikes too. Using Brandwatch’s Iris AI technology, we found the biggest peaks in the conversation and what drove them.

COP26 opens, 1 Nov, 8am – 10am GMT

The biggest conversation starter was the opening of the conference. With a wave of news coverage and press releases unleashed, and interviews with politicians and activists broadcast all over, COP26 was inescapable.

While general coverage and various announcements from world leaders all played their part, action outside of the conference also ramped up mentions.

The image below was posted over 4,000 times in the space of two hours as people drew attention to four activists from Namibia, Uganda, Mexico, and Bangladesh and their attempt to sail right up to the COP26 venue.

World leaders make landmark deforestation commitment, Nov 2, 7am – 6pm GMT

A lot happened in this period, including Prince Charles meeting Jeff Bezos, and Queen guitarist Brian May calling for concrete action from the conference.

But the big story was the commitment from over 100 leaders to stop deforestation by 2030.

Blackpink weigh in, Nov 2, 2am GMT

There is no social media dataset safe from K-pop, but for once BTS aren’t involved. The third biggest spike in conversation came as the Korean megastars Blackpink released a video calling for action on climate change. Their fans then enthusiastically amplified their message.

The big names

Finally, we found out which people were the most-discussed around COP26. While world leaders obviously made the list, they weren’t the only ones.

Defender of nature David Attenborough and climate activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate attracted a lot of attention. Attenborough got people talking thanks to his speech at the conference, while Thunberg rallied supporters in Glasgow telling them she had little faith in COP26 and the commitments it would bring.

Among some of the most well-known world leaders, Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, managed to cut through thanks to a powerful speech calling attention to the communities that are already under dire threat from climate change. You can watch that speech here.

COP26 draws to a close today. Will it mark the planet’s climate change turning point or will Thunberg’s prediction be right? Only time will tell.

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Thanks for reading

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Stay safe,

The Brandwatch React team