Climate activists worldwide have started using unusual and new ways to get support and make more people aware of climate change.

Recently, activists have been using a new technique more and more to draw attention to the fact that people around the world aren't doing anything about climate change. They want to get the attention of customers, employees, and the people who fund big polluting companies without getting in their way.

The Financial Times says that one of the tricks was that climate activists sent an online video game to hundreds of employees at the asset management company Abrdn, saying it was for fun.

The newspaper said that there was only one way to win the online game: get the board to invest less in oil and gas. Climate activists sent the game to employees, and the company quickly banned it from its servers.

Also, Shell settled a lawsuit it had brought against the environmental group "Greenpeace" in December. The lawsuit was brought after Greenpeace activists climbed onto Shell's oil platform in the North Sea in 2023.

After Shell announced that it would sue the activists, representatives from Greenpeace visited the company's headquarters in London to leave a model of the "world's tiniest violin," mocking Shell for saying that the peaceful, non-violent protest had put its employees' lives at risk.

The group of climate activists also got Jesse Armstrong, who made the popular TV show Succession, to help them make fun of Shell.

Shell declined to comment on this story but had previously stated regarding its case against Greenpeace activists, "For Shell, the right to protest is fundamental and has never been in question."

The Greenpeace-Shell settlement was a rare bright spot for activists in a year when some of the world's largest companies—including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Walmart, and Shell—either weakened or delayed some of their climate and environmental goals.

European banks have also said they will leave the biggest climate alliance in the business world if its rules aren't loosened. This is because executives don't want to work together on net zero during the Trump administration.

But even with these problems, some experts say that the best way to get people to take action on climate change and start protesting is to spread a mix of hope, humour, and realism.

Based on this idea, Christiana Figueres co-founded the consulting firm Global Optimism. Figueres was one of the people who came up with the 2015 Paris Agreement to stop global warming. The firm tells governments and businesses that climate change can still be "overcome."

China has increased climate funding for poorer nations, despite being the world's largest polluter, optimists say. However, because of how quickly solar energy is being used in the country, some experts think that its carbon emissions peaked last year or will peak in 2025. This means that the country needs to act right away to improve its sustainable economy.

Also among the signs of adopting humour in climate protests, some advertising and communications specialists have adopted a lighter tone, rallying around playful campaigns to highlight the inaction in their industry— a notable shift away from the more confrontational tone embraced by groups like Just Stop Oil.

Activists identified WPP-owned Ogilvy as one of the advertising firms with the most fossil fuel contracts in September.

Then, Jim Inman, a former brand strategist at Ogilvy, and Olly Frost, a comedian and activist, sent fake emails to Ogilvy employees inviting them to an entertainment exhibition about fossil fuels that included games made from oil pipes.

The hacked account of WPP's CEO, Mark Read, was the source of these emails. Not only did employees of the advertising firm get an invitation, but some Ogilvy clients also got tickets to the entertainment exhibition in the mail.

In 2024, Enman and Frost used information that was open to the public to get the email addresses of people who worked at Aberdeen Asset Management. They then sent those people a link that took them straight to an online game.

It was said that at least 600 of them played the game, which made fun of the UK asset management company's choice to keep investing in some types of fossil fuels.