And the Oscar for best climate change film of 2024 goes to …

“The Wild Robot,” a beautiful animated movie that takes place in a world irrevocably altered by rising seas.

Not that there was much competition.

For the second year running, nonprofit consulting firm Good Energy applied its Climate Reality Check to the actual Oscar-nominated films. Intended as a climate version of the Bechdel test, which measures representation of women, the Climate Reality Check tests whether a movie and its characters acknowledge global warming.

Compared to last year, the results weren’t great.

Of last year’s 13 Oscar-nominated films that met Good Energy’s criteria (feature-length movies set in present-day or near-future Earth) three passed the test. This year, there were 10 eligible films. Only “The Wild Robot” passed.

The climate silence “does feel a little striking after the harrowing year we’ve all had,” Good Energy Chief Executive Anna Jane Joyner said, referring to the fossil-fueled wildfires that tore through Altadena and Pacific Palisades.

“I think Hollywood is learning firsthand that it’s on the front lines of climate change,” she added.

Maybe a few years from now, studios will release a torrent of movies and shows reflecting the realities of a scary-but-still-salvageable world, helmed by producers and writers jolted into renewed awareness by the infernos.

But for now, the picture is bleak.

A scene from DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot,” the only film nominated for an Academy Award this year to pass Good Energy’s Climate Reality Check.

(DreamWorks Animation)

A peer-reviewed study slated for publication this month, led by Rice University English and environmental studies professor Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, analyzes climate change mentions in 250 of the most popular movies of the last decade. The authors found that just 12.8% of the films allude to global warming.

Just 3.6% depict or mention the climate crisis in two or more scenes.

“A lot of times, it’s really being mentioned in passing,” Schneider-Mayerson said.

It’s also possible some Hollywood studios could be wary of acknowledging climate change on the silver screen so long as Donald Trump is president, given his history of climate denial and fealty to the oil and gas industry — and his growing propensity to threaten and bully media companies whose content displeases him.

Joyner, though, doesn’t think studios will shy away from climate.

She pointed to another analysis led by Schneider-Mayerson, which found that movies passing the Climate Reality Check and released in theaters earned 10% more at the box office, on average, than films failing the test. Netflix, meanwhile, says on its website that 80% of its customers “choose to watch at least one story on Netflix that helps them better understand climate issues or highlight hopeful solutions around sustainability.”

“Clearly, audiences are more and more interested in these stories,” Joyner said.

Sponsors are interested in selling audiences on climate-friendly products, too.

I was sitting in a movie theater last weekend enjoying “Captain America: Brave New World” — the latest entry in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe — when, to my surprise, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) got out of his SUV and pulled his iconic red-white-and-blue shield out of the front trunk. Yes, a front trunk, where an internal combustion engine would normally be. That meant Captain America was driving an electric vehicle, right?

Indeed, he was. I did some research after I got home and learned that Wilson was driving a GMC Hummer EV, the result of a paid partnership between Marvel Studios and GMC parent company General Motors.

Captain America’s shield is displayed in the front trunk of a GMC Hummer electric SUV at the premiere of “Captain America: Brave New World” at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 11.

(Leon Bennett / Getty Images for Disney)

“Brave New World” doesn’t pass the climate test. Also, SUVs kill more pedestrians and cyclists than smaller cars.

But the more movies and TV shows spotlight climate solutions — electric vehicles, solar panels, induction stoves — the more likely people are to support those solutions. For Hollywood, that’s a step in the right direction.

Moving forward, filmmakers need to understand that stories ignoring climate change don’t reflect reality.

“It’s going to feel like they’re in a fantasy universe,” Joyner said.

On that note, here’s what’s happening around the West:

THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Sunrise Movement LA protesters demonstrate at a Phillips 66 facility in Carson on Jan. 16.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The fossil fuel industry faces a long, steady decline in California. But it’s putting up a fight.

Oil and gas companies and trade groups spent a record $65.8 million lobbying California legislators and agencies in 2023 and 2024, as Liza Gross reports for Inside Climate News. Those expenditures helped defeat a bill that might have led to PBF Energy facing steep penalties for a recent explosion at its Martinez oil refinery.

Environmentalists and some lawmakers, meanwhile, worry the plastics industry may have enlisted Gov. Gavin Newsom in its campaign to delay a groundbreaking law that’s supposed to phase out certain single-use plastics. (Plastics, you may recall, are usually made from oil and gas.) Details here from The Times’ Susanne Rust.

Even if fossil fuel companies don’t ultimately block the transition to cleaner products, the road won’t be easy. Take gasoline. As demand falls due to growth of electric cars, state officials are weighing many options to stabilize gas supplies — including taking ownership of oil refineries, as my colleague Russ Mitchell reports.

Speaking of which, the Wall Street Journal has a good story on Chevron’s decision to move its headquarters from California to Texas. One fascinating tidbit: Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth texted Newsom before making the announcement, hoping to get him on the phone first. Newsom wasn’t interested in talking.

A few other stories dealing with fossil fuels:

• Nevada’s largest utility, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, ditched a plan to replace its last coal plant with renewables. Instead, gas will replace coal. (Amy Alonzo, the Nevada Independent)
• Montana utility NorthWestern Energy plans to use newly acquired shares of the Colstrip coal plant — which I visited in 2023 — to supply power to electricity-hungry data centers. (David Erickson, the Missoulian)
• President Trump nominated Kathleen Sgamma, the leader of a major oil and gas industry trade group based in Denver, to run the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. (Maxine Joselow, Washington Post)

TRUMP STUFF

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour an area of Pacific Palisades where homes were destroyed by January’s fire.

(Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)

I’m not sure what’s worse: President Trump ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back efficiency standards for light bulbs (which will lead to wasted electricity and higher utility bills for Americans), or Trump not knowing that the Energy Department, not the EPA, writes those rules.

I take that back: The underlying policy is definitely worse.

Also bad: The Trump administration’s funding freeze could interrupt vegetation clearing work in national forests intended to prevent devastating wildfires. Here’s the story from my L.A. Times colleague James Rainey. Thousands of layoffs at the U.S. Forest Service, part of a massive round of job cuts affecting agencies including the National Park Service, could have similarly catastrophic consequences for wildfire prevention work.

Those aren’t the Trump administration’s only questionable fire-related choices. My colleague Tony Briscoe reports that federal officials are skimping on soil testing meant to protect families from hazardous chemicals in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires, seemingly to speed up rebuilding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency insists its approach is scientifically sound, even though it’s not what FEMA has done after past fires.

In other news, Trump barred federal agencies from buying paper straws, The Times’ Susanne Rust writes.

Associates of Trump advisor Elon Musk, meanwhile, were granted access to the EPA’s contracting system, even as Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company, was fined for violating California rules protecting workers from dangerous heat. My colleague Suhauna Hussain wrote about Tesla’s alleged violations at its Fremont plant.

How should the Democratic Party respond to Trump’s attacks on clean energy and democracy? Fellow L.A. Times columnist Mark Z. Barabak thinks Democrats should pick their battles; he commended Gov. Gavin Newsom for trying to stay on Trump’s good side in hopes of securing federal wildfire aid for L.A. County. As you may recall from last Tuesday’s Boiling Point, I have a different view. Mark and I engaged in a thoughtful, spirited debate.

AROUND THE WEST

A mudslide is cleared from Pacific Coast Highway at Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades after last week’s storm.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Lots of other stuff happening this week. Let’s do a quick rundown, starting with fire:

• Consistent with a climate increasingly prone to quick swings between drought and flood, record rainfall hit Southern California not long after the recent fires. Pacific Coast Highway flooded. (L.A. Times)
• Six years after the Woolsey fire blazed through Malibu, most residents whose homes burned down still can’t rebuild. New fire codes and the California Coastal Commission are partly to blame. (Liam Dillon, L.A. Times)
• California’s elected insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, has faced criticism for his handling of the climate-fueled insurance crisis. In a new interview, Lara defends his actions. (Laurence Darmiento, L.A. Times)

Moving on to America’s public lands and waters:

• Mysterious entities with ties to the hotel industry have been buying private land within Joshua Tree National Park. Are they planning a resort? They won’t say. (Alex Wigglesworth and Lila Seidman, L.A. Times)
• Former President Biden’s American Climate Corps — which was supposed to help people find jobs, many of them on public lands — is gone. But that doesn’t mean much in practice. (Noah Haggerty, L.A. Times)
• Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is running for New Mexico governor. (Patrick Lohmann, Source NM)

Last but not least, some urban planning.

First, let’s talk about billionaire developer and former L.A. mayoral hopeful Rick Caruso. He’s been railing against Mayor Karen Bass, exaggerating her role in the Palisades fire getting so destructive. He’s also a longtime critic of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, an important law that’s sometimes used by bad-faith actors to try to block affordable apartment buildings, solar farms and other worthwhile projects.

Well, now Caruso is using CEQA to his advantage.

As my colleague David Zahniser reports, one of Caruso’s companies, the Grove shopping mall, is suing to block L.A.’s approval of a $1-billion renovation of the former CBS Television City studio nearby. The Grove is contesting the project’s environmental review under CEQA — exactly the kind of lawsuit Caruso has described as “frivolous.”

CEQA reform for thee, but not for me.

Second: RIP Donald Shoup, brilliant economist and enemy of free street parking. If you haven’t heard of him, that’s OK; this obituary by The Times’ Liam Dillon is a wonderful read. Shoup’s work helped spur the elimination of mandatory parking requirements for most developments near mass transit in California, a win for climate.

TWO MORE THINGS

First: On this week’s Boiling Point podcast, our guest is climate comedian Esteban Gast. Yes, he tells jokes about global warming. And not only is he funny, he has great insights about how the climate movement might adjust its messaging for America in 2025. (For more, I wrote last year about the burgeoning climate comedy movement.)

Second: I’ll be at Village Well Books & Coffee in Culver City this Saturday, Feb. 22, from 6 to 7 p.m., participating in a panel discussion focused on the current political moment. Conversation topics will include climate, immigration and disinformation. Feel free to join us.

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here.

For more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth on X and @sammyroth.bsky.social on Bluesky.