For many of today’s consumers, if a brand isn’t acting sustainably or doing its part to help with the climate crisis, they want nothing to do with it. The past year has done much to drive that mindset. As it turns out, spending so much time indoors has made people appreciate the earth and its non-renewable resources more than ever. In a March 2021 study, research and advisory company Forrester found that 50% of US adults have become “green consumers,” with a third spending more time thinking about the impact of the climate than before the pandemic.

“Brands have no choice but to listen to consumers and to broader societal trends. The COVID-19 crisis accelerated the importance of climate change and consumers are increasingly greener and demand sustainable brands,” says Thomas Husson, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, adding that it’s a “phenomenon” seen across the U.S. and Europe. “Broader environmental sustainability will be the next competitive advantage and will drive a massive business transformation.”

This Earth Day, many brands including SodaStream, Levi’s and Hyundai are continuing their sustainable efforts from years past, while brands like TikTok and Tinder are making waves for the first time.

Facebook

This Earth Day, Facebook is airing a star-studded live performance on Facebook Watch to raise awareness for climate change. The social network is partnering with Earthday.org to bring the special “Earth Day! The Musical” to Facebook Watch at 12 p.m. EDT featuring movie stars, musicians and influencers. The cast includes Bill Nye, Justin Bieber, Steve Aoki, TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Zac Efron, Ben Platt, Idina Menzel, The Kid Mero and others. The plot begins with Bill Nye teaming up with Justin Bieber to bring awareness to Earth Day and the rumor that Nye is producing a musical. Nye sets the record straight and hands over the mic to climate activists. During the event, Facebook will launch a #RestoreOurEarthChallenge, encouraging viewers to share steps they are taking to combat climate change.

Facebook is also bringing Earth Day programming to virtual reality headset Oculus, highlighting relevant educational resources and small businesses on Instagram, and says its Marketplace has more than 500,000 eco-friendly items for sale. For its Shops feature, the platform is adding several new celebrity-driven environmental organizations to support, including Jaden Smith and Drew Fitzgerald’s 501CTHRE, which aims to bring clean water to communities in need; and Mark Ruffalo’s The Solutions Project, which gives grants to grassroots organizations helping communities confronting climate change. Facebook says the feature now has more than 1 million active Shops with 250 million users.

TikTok

TikTok is embracing social good on its platform starting this Earth Day through a new year-long partnership with ATTN, the digital media company that publishes content about social issues for young audiences. ATTN will be taking over TikTok’s @TikTokForGood account and sharing content around topics like environmentalism and animal welfare, produce monthly livestreams around events like Earth Day and Election Day and work with nonprofits. Axios writes that the deal is likely in the seven-figure range.

The partnership kicks off today with a livestream to inspire TikTok users to live more sustainably. The livestream, made possible through Ruffalo’s One Tree Planted organization, features a Q&A with sustainability scientist Alaina Wood @TheGarbageQueen, who has 163,000 followers on the platform, and actor and singer Jaden Smith @Jaden, who has 580,000 followers. In addition, @Eco-Tok creators will discuss topics like climate change and reducing waste. Wood will also demonstrate how to plant a tree on behalf of One Tree Planted. 

Levi’s

Levi’s has a strong message this Earth Day: People go through twice as much clothing today compared to 15 years ago. Timed to Earth Day, the denim brand, which has a history of making pledges around sustainable demin production, is launching its “Buy Better, Wear Longer” campaign, which encourages Gen Zers to reuse, repurpose and reduce their consumer footprints. It’s the brand’s first global campaign in three years and stars Jaden Smith (once again), Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, entrepreneur Melati Wijsen, climate activist Xiye Bastida and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

The digital and social campaign, created by San Francisco-based AAKQA, includes one long film and several short films for each of the six talents. “Global clothing consumption has doubled in the last 15 years,” begins the minute-long spot. “We can change that,” says Smith as layers of clothes fly off him. Watch all the spots here.

Budweiser

Today Budweiser is launching its “first global sustainability-focused marketing campaign,” according to the Anheuser-Busch beer brand, as it works to have every one of its beers brewed with 100% renewable energy by 2025. The impactful digital and social campaign, called “Together We Can Turn This Around,” uses a “reverse poem” to demonstrate how people have the power to turn around decades of environmental degradation. The spot starts with pollution filling our cities, fires tearing down homes and sand storms wreaking havoc. Then, as the poem is read in reverse, the air clears up and solar panels and wind turbines are seen as farmers grow their grains, ending with “Choose Earth.” The campaign was developed in partnership with brand purpose consultancy and creative agency Revolt.

Budweiser is also taking different measures in select markets. In Chile and Canada, Budweiser is donating enough renewable energy for every beer brewed on Earth Day. In the U.K., where the brand recently started brewing all beers with 100% renewable electricity, the brand will be celebrating those who make green choices with out-of-home creative that praises cities like Manchester and Glasgow and celebrities like George Lamb.

SodaStream

Sorry Mark Zuckerberg, but PepsiCo’s SodaStream has paired up with your sister Randi Zuckerberg, former director of market development at Facebook, for an Earth Day campaign encouraging people to do more than just post their environmental concerns on social media. In a digital and social spot, Zuckerberg plays on her relation to Facebook’s famous founder and her past experience at Facebook for her determination to partner with SodaStream to take “real action.” “Honestly, when all we do is share stuff online, instead of taking real action, the world doesn’t give a ***,” she says. “That’s why I decided to join SodaStream.”

The spot goes along with multiple other commitments from the sparkling water brand. A SodaStream spokesperson says that for the first time, the brand will develop sparkling water makers from recycled or plant-based material and will be switching its flavor bottles to metal by the end of 2021. With that, SodaStream is now estimating that its ongoing goal of reducing plastic bottle waste will effectively avoid nearly 78 billion bottles by 2025. The brand will also close its offices today to encourage employees to participate in clean-up activities.

Hyundai

Once again, car manufacturer Hyundai is working with its global brand ambassador, mega popular K-pop group BTS, for an Earth Day film to promote its eco-friendly Nexo car. “For tomorrow, we won’t wait” shows the band members making choices to live a sustainable lifestyle—from planting plants to upcycling their clothes and finally, to driving a Hyundai Nexo.

Nike 

Nike has paired singer and songwriter Billie Eilish and marine biologist and climate expert Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson together for a talk about climate change and taking action. The talk, called "Talking Trash," is shown on Nike's website at go.nike.com/talkingtrash. Eilish and Johnson discuss the steps people can take to take action, how young people are leading the charge and that action is needed now. Eilish is sharing the talk with her 82 million Instagram followers. 

Adidas 

Adidas Originals is announcing a new iteration on its Stan Smith sustainable shoes (inspired by the famous tennis player) that "Star Wars" fans will love. A new pair of Yoda shoes features an eco-friendly upper composed of recycled material and supports Adidas' efforts to reduce plastic waste. The shoes will launch on May 5 at adidas.com/stansmith and in select stores.

Adidas is also working with creative agency Mojo Supermarket on a recycling vending machine where people can help pay for their Stan Smith shoes through recycling. The machine takes old plastic bottles, and in return, gives discounts for the sustainable line of shoes, which are made out of PU-coated recycled polyester instead of leather. The recycling machines can be found at the brand's flagship New York store, its flagship Paris store, and are being introduced to additional global markets later this year. 

Tinder and Beyond Meat

Tinder is making its Earth Day debut in a partnership with Beyond Meat to send singles on plant-based picnic dates. The app, which offers a number of “Passions” users can place on their profiles to connect to matches, is adding “Plant-based” as another option. Women on Tinder say vegan and vegetarian diets are among the “most attractive traits” in matches, according to the app. The first 500 people who connect with the Plant-Based Passion card will win a picnic park date for two with date night swag and a voucher for the plant-based Beyond Meat products.

Horizon Organic

Danone-owned organic dairy brand Horizon Organic has a new environmental goal on the horizon: To go carbon positive by the year 2025 by going beyond carbon neutrality and preventing or removing carbon by entering the atmosphere. To get there, Horizon is setting up a $15 million farmer investment fund for its over 600 farmer partners so they can improve energy efficiencies on their farms, manage cow manure and plant more trees. Horizon also aims to enhance soil health, prioritize animal welfare, improve its distribution strategy and make its packaging completely recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

The brand is also being more transparent about the company’s carbon footprint and its new objective by placing its carbon positive goal online and on future packaging. To support the mission, Horizon is partnering with the Environmental Defense Fund to encourage people to write to Congress, asking them to fight climate change.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell and TerraCycle are collaborating on a way to recycle the chain’s popular hot sauce packets, a move that’s likely to help the brand win over eco-friendly fans. According to Taco Bell, the chain goes through 8.2 billion sauce packets in the U.S. each year. Taco Bell snagged some first-mover advantage, as it bills itself the first fast-food chain that’s working with TerraCycle on recycling the so-called flexible film packets. But the national recycling pilot won’t be announced until later this year. Taco Bell aims to make all of its packaging that consumers touch be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025.

Michelob Ultra

Anheuser-Busch brand Michelob Ultra Pure Gold can now say it’s “brewed with 100% solar electricity.” To celebrate, the organic lager has teamed up with long-time partner and Latin Grammy Award winner Maluma to release his new single “Rumba (Puro Oro Anthem)” on Spotify and will be giving away limited-edition vinyl copies to fans on Instagram on Earth Day. The song includes “sounds of the sun.” Next month, the partnership will include another limited-edition product.

Bulleit

Diageo’s Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is teaming up with Cocktail Courier and American Forests to help you toast the Earth in style. Together, they’ve created a limited-edition eco-friendly Earth Day Cocktail Kit that lets you create the eco-friendly “Sip of Paradise” drink. Conceived by bartender Carley Gaskin, known for her sustainable recipes, it contains Bulleit Bourbon, pineapple cordial and citrus stock, topped off with a dehydrated lemon wheel. Each kit also includes bartending tips printed on seed paper, which imbibers can use to cultivate “garnish gardens” of their own at home. For the month of April, Bulleit will also be donating 22% of sales of the kits to American Forests in honor of Earth Day on April 22. Last fall, Bulleit had partnered with the organization to plant 1 million trees over the next five years.

Spalding and Ol' Dirty Planters

Sports equipment company Spalding is hitting on the trend of upcycling this Earth Day by transforming basketballs into planters. The effort is a partnership with Los Angeles-based Black-owned small business Ol’ Dirty Planters, which launched during the pandemic and quickly gathered a following for its expressive basketball planters. Spalding will be upcycling Spalding NBA game balls, including ones that were retired to its vault. “The result is a fresh way to kick off Hot Plant Summer by providing new life to basketballs once they retire from the court,” says the brand. Plus, plants help to purify the air.