LOS ANGELES – A video of actress and climate activist Jane Fonda alongside Filipino-American California Attorney General Rob Bonta went viral during Climate Week NYC 2025, amplifying their urgent call for climate action.
In the Instagram reel, recorded at the event, Bonta highlighted his office’s lawsuits against major oil companies.
“I’m here with Jane Fonda at Climate Week, where we’re using the rule of law to protect our environment,” Bonta said. “We’re pushing back against Big Oil and undoing the rollbacks from the Trump administration. History shows that when people stand up and play their role, change is possible. Jane has been igniting that power for decades, and I’m proud to call her a friend and ally.”
Fonda, whose climate activism has been a central focus since 2019, echoed his urgency.
“We’re facing a crisis of democracy and a climate crisis,” she said. “We can’t stand on the sidelines. We have to fight back. I’ll have your back—and Attorney General Bonta will protect you. Stand up. Take action.”
Hollywood star and climate activist Jane Fonda and California Attorney General Rob Bonta at the Climate Week NYC forum | CONTRIBUTED
The clip paired the visibility of a Hollywood star with the authority of a state attorney general, reflecting Climate Week’s 2025 theme, “Power On” which organizers described as a call to sustain ambition and focus on climate progress despite political and economic setbacks.
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Held Sept. 21–28, Climate Week NYC hosted more than 1,000 events across New York City and online. Now in its 16th year, it is the largest annual climate gathering outside the UN COP summits.
A UN COP, or Conference of the Parties, is an annual United Nations meeting where representatives from different countries gather to discuss and coordinate efforts on a specific international treaty.
The most prominent is the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC), where governments negotiate strategies and policies to address climate change, measure progress and set standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The COP serves as the supreme decision-making body for the convention.
This year’s convention speakers included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Kenyan President William Ruto, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis, Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen, and UN climate chief Simon Stiell. Activists who participated included Mark Ruffalo and Jane Fonda, alongside Bonta representing the United States.
Fonda’s climate activism accelerated after California’s 2018 wildfires and her reading of Naomi Klein’s “On Fire.”
In 2019, she launched Fire Drill Fridays with Greenpeace, staging weekly demonstrations in Washington, D.C., leading to her arrest five times.
Actress and activist Jane Fonda, is arrested by U.S. Capitol police at Hart Senate Office Building as she and other demonstrators called on Congress for action to address climate change, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. A half-century after throwing her attention-getting celebrity status into Vietnam War protests, Fonda is now doing the same in a U.S. climate movement where the average age is 18. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
She chronicled her efforts in her 2020 book, “What Can I Do: My Path from Climate Despair to Action,” and founded the Jane Fonda Climate PAC in 2022 to support candidates opposing fossil fuel interests. She has also aligned her personal life with her advocacy, reducing air travel, driving an electric vehicle and cutting single-use plastics.
Bonta, sworn in as California’s first Filipino American attorney general in 2021, has prioritized environmental justice. The son of United Farm Workers organizers, he has expanded the state’s Bureau of Environmental Justice, defended clean car standards, and filed high-profile lawsuits against oil companies.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta | FILE PHOTO
In 2023, his office sued five major oil firms and the American Petroleum Institute for misleading the public on climate change. In 2024, he sued ExxonMobil over alleged misinformation about plastics recycling. He received the Sierra Club Political Leadership Award in August 2025 for his work on climate and environmental justice.
The Fonda–Bonta video circulated on social media as California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a complaint with the US Environmental Protection Agency, accusing Administrator Lee Zeldin of “betraying” the agency’s mission by proposing to lift greenhouse gas reporting requirements for major polluters.
The viral reel’s message – pairing grassroots activism with legal accountability – echoed a central theme of Climate Week as a call to action for businesses, governments and civil society to pursue meaningful climate progress
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