McKibben, Monbiot and Figueres have huge clout on Twittersphere

When journalist and environmentalist Bill McKibben founded the grassroots organization 350.org, nobody had heard of the Keystone XL pipeline and few were talking seriously about the need to divest from fossil fuels.

Today, a pipeline considered a shoe-in by the oil industry is long delayed and likely to never get built, while more than 220 institutions – from pension funds to universities to philanthropic foundations – have committed to take their money out of coal, oil and natural gas.

Given McKibben’s role in creating and leading this fast-growing movement, it may come as little surprise that the father of 350.org is the most influential Twitter user in the environmental community, according the Top 100 Eco-Influencers on Twitter ranking released today by Corporate Knights and Brandwatch, the social media analytics company.

Guardian columnist George Monbiot ranked a close second, followed by environmental activist and artist Irina Tikhomirova and Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

To determine the top 100 more than 100,000 Twitter users actively posting on green issues were studied, including mainstream individuals who have built a large following within the global environmental audience and professionals who work with and tweet about environmental issues. Each was awarded a “Green Score” on a scale of 1 to 100, calculated according to three different measurements: Authority, Audience and Activity. (See Top 100 list below, or click here to see it on twitter).

McKibben, for example, has 149,000 followers and actively posts. But he also has highly influential followers, which indicates his strong authority and influence in the environmental community. How many times his posts have been liked and commented on also impacts the final score.

“Social activism is one of the most powerful ways to build awareness, educate and affect change,” said Benj Pettit, Brandwatch data scientist. “The Top 100 Eco-Influencers reflect those who understand the power of social to influence and build support.”

Toby Heaps, chief executive of Corporate Knights, said the Top 100 list was created so people had an easy way to follow those with the “greenest street cred” on Twitter.

The highest-ranking Canadian was social activist and author Naomi Klein, who is joined on the list by Green Party leader Elizabeth May, best-selling author Margaret Atwood, environmental artist Franke James, activist Tzeporah Berman, economics professor Andrew Leach, federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, and green economy evangelist Jim Harris.

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore is among the highest-profile names on the list, along with actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and billionaire businessmen Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer, Richard Branson and Bill Gates.

Journalists dominated the list, many of them having written for Corporate Knights in the past, including Monbiot, David Roberts of Vox (formerly Grist), freelancer Marc Gunther, Greentech Media editor Stephen Lacey, and Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher Mims.

Michael Mann, director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center, was the top-ranked climate scientist at eighth place, followed by the Pacific Institute’s Peter Gleick, IPCC vice-chair JPascal van Ypersele, and Gavin Schmidt at NASA.

Position	Name	Handle	Bio	Location	cPI Score
1	Bill McKibben	@billmckibben	Author, Educator, Environmentalist and Founder of http://t.co/Wy9Mw8NGD7	Vermont	94
2	George Monbiot	@georgemonbiot	"I love not man the less, but Nature more" - Guardian columnist and environmentalist		94
3	Irina Tikhomirova	@IrinaGreenVoice	Master's in Environmental Protection/Greenpeace Online Activist. Digital artist,Dreamer,Veggie, Love our Planet,Tweet to inspire #SaveTheArctic #FreeTheArctic30		92
4	Christiana Figueres	@CFigueres	Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Passionate about fighting climate change. Mother of two wonderful young ladies.	Bonn, Germany	92
5	Judd Legum	@JuddLegum	Editor-in-chief @thinkprogress. Gchat: jlegum@gmail.com.	Washington, DC	92
6	Al Gore	@algore	Former Vice-President, US	Nashville, TN	92
7	Kumi Naidoo	@kuminaidoo	Activist. Humanist. Speaking truth to power. Greenpeace International Executive Director. Tweets by Kumi and his team.		91
8	Michael E.Mann	@MichaelEMann	Climate Scientist, Professor, and Director of Penn State Earth System Science Center. Author of Dire Predictions & The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars	Penn State University, PA	91
9	Svein T Veitdal	@tveitdal	Tweeting Climate Change news and Climate Information English/Norwegian, IPCC, Director Klima 2020, former UN Director	Arendal, Norway	91
10	Diane N56	@DianeN56	The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat. ~Jacques Yves Cousteau	Champaign, IL	91
11	Richard Branson	@richardbranson	Tie-loathing adventurer and thrill seeker, who believes in turning ideas into reality. Otherwise known as Dr Yes at @virgin!		91
12	Andy Revkin	@Revkin	Pursuing progress on a finite planet at @dotearth and http://Pace.edu/Academy The rest? Family, friends, songs: http://j.mp/revkinmusic http://veryfinelines.com	Hudson Valely, NY, USA	90
13	Christine Milne	@senatormilne	Australian Greens Leader and Senator for Tasmania Authorised by Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600	Hobart, Australia	90
14	David Roberts	@drvox	Seattleite transplanted from Tennessee; now blogging for Vox about energy politics. Climate hawk, deficit dove.	Seattle, WA	90
15	Caroline Lucas	@CarolineLucas	MP for Brighton Pavilion; Former Leader of the Green Party; Mum	Brighton	90
16	Josh Fox	@gaslandmovie	Director of Gasland parts I and II, Artistic Director of International WOW Company. This twitter feed is mostly about Gasland. #banfracking #gorenewable		90
17	Ray Beckerman	@RayBeckerman	A NYC business lawyer, I tweet about law, social justice, human rights, nature, human & animal rights, the arts, ecology.	New York NY (Forest Hills) USA	90
18	Calestous Juma	@calestous	Harvard Kennedy School Professor interested in science, technology and innovation for development. To follow is a privilege; to be followed is an honor.	Cambridge, MA	90
19	Bill Gates	@BillGates	Sharing things I'm learning through my foundation work and other interests...	Seattle, WA	90
20	Dusty Gedge	@greenroofsuk	biodiversity professional, green roof campaigner/designer,public speaker, ecosystems services and green roof trainer - indigenous people + justice	London	89
21	Yeb Sa_o	@YebSano	Climate Change Commissioner; old soul; environmentalist; philosopher; father; nature lover; peace activist; revolutionary	Philippines	89
22	James Murray	@James_BG	Editor of http://BusinessGreen.com - tweeting in a personal capacity, check out @BusinessGreen for the official feed	London	89
23	John Pratt	@Jackthelad1947	Live simply so others can simply live. Climate change is a global emergency. Carbon pollution kills. Polluters should pay. Refugees need our support.	Perth, Western Australia	89
24	Kate Sheppard	@kate_sheppard	Reporter/enviro editor @HuffPostPol, VP of membership at @sejorg, and grad student at @AmericanU. Fan of the serial comma.	Washington, DC	89
25	Julie Urlaub	@TaigaCompany	Sustainability & Social Media Consultant - Founder of Taiga Company - Speaker - Author of The Business Sustainability Handbook - Mountain bike racer.	Golden, Colorado	89
26	Naomi Klein	@NaomiAKlein	They say I'm polarizing		89
27	Ivan Roberson	@ivanroberson	We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. Ancient Indian Proverb #UniteBlue	Florida	89
28	FrackingTestSubject	@gardencatlady	Artist, Pacifist, I would love to see a peaceful, clean earth, with respect for all living beings.	Texas	89
29	Green Bean	@iamgreenbean	Climate change activist, conservationist, progressive, gardener. - Don't hate the media, become the media. - Jello Biafra	California	89
30	Sunny Hundal	@sunny_hundal	Writer; journalist; Guardian & Al-Jazeera contributor; lecturer at Kingston Uni; activist; environmentalist; feminist. Only tweet currents affairs. Get my book!	London	89
31	David Shiffman	@whysharksmatter	I am a marine biologist studying shark conservation and a blogger. I support science-based management and sustainable fishing, and do not support direct action.	Miami, FL	89
32	Danielle Nierenberg	@DaniNierenberg	Co-Founder @Food_Tank. Email me: danielle@foodtank.org. Weekly E-Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/srFyP	Chicago, IL	89
33	Michael Pollan	@michaelpollan	Author of Cooked; Food Rules; In Defense of Food; The Omnivore's Dilemma; The Botany of Desire; A Place of My Own and Second Nature.	Berkeley, CA	89
34	Mark Ruffalo	@markruffalo	Actor/Director/Hulk	NYS	89
35	Brent Toderian	@BrentToderian	City planner + urbanist, @TODUrbanWORKS; former Vancouver Chief Planner; President of @CanUrbanism; CBC Radio columnist; writer/speaker/teacher/city-maker.	Vancover, BC, Canada	89
36	Eric Holthaus	@EricHolthaus	America's weather-predicting boyfriend' @Awl - Born at 340.1 ppm - Meteorologist, nerding it up @slate & @vice	Viroqua, WI	89
37	Igor Volsky	@igorvolsky	Managing Editor at @ThinkProgress. E-mail: ivolsky@americanprogress.org	Washington, DC	89
38	Elizabeth May	@ElizabethMay	Leader of Green Party, MP - Saanich-Gulf Islands, activist, author & mother. Tweets are Elizabeth's unless signed by Hill Staff - @MayElizabeth	Sidney, British Columbia	88
39	Kees Van der Leun	@Sustainable2050	27 years of dedication to sustainable energy: consultant, bus dev, mgr, strategist, and climate hawk. COO @Ecofys. 100% renewable energy is possible in 2050!	Netherlands	88
40	Dominic Dyer	@domdyer70	Writer, broadcaster, campaigner passionate about farming and food, wildlife and conservation and relations between America and Europe.	UK	88
41	Damian Carrington	@dpcarrington	I'm head of environment at the Guardian	London	88
42	Christopher N. Fox	@ChristopherNFox	Husband/Dad. Work at Ceres on sustainability, climate change, clean energy - http://www.Ceres.org - @CeresNews @INCRnews @BICEPnews @GISRnews - tweets=mine	Boston	88
43	Peter Gleick	@PeterGleick	Pacific Institute; sustainability; climate/water scientist; member National Academy of Science, MacArthur Fellow; author of Bottled and Sold. Tweets are my own.	Bay Area, California	88
44	Juan Cole	@jricole	Public intellectual: Global affairs, Environment, Human Rights, Progressive Politics, Poetry & Literature, Pop Culture, Spirituality	Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA	88
45	Scott Ludlam	@SenatorLudlam	Authorised by Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600		88
46	Alice Stollmeyer	@StollmeyerEU	EU energy & climate policies \| Advocating good governance, adequate measures & urgent action to protect Earth for present & future generations	Brussels, Europe	88
47	Zaid Jilani	@ZaidJilani	Formerly @thinkprogress, @unitedrep, @boldprogressive. Now @SyracuseU grad student Love cats, the South, and cheesecake. Graduating June 2014!	United States	88
48	Mike Bloomberg	@MikeBloomberg	Entrepreneur, Former Mayor of New York City, Philanthropist.	New York City	88
49	Leonardo DiCaprio	@LeoDicaprio	Actor and Environmentalist	Los Angeles, CA	88
50	Clara Jeffery	@ClaraJeffery	Co-editor of Mother Jones. Mom. One very tired lady. (Hats via @darth)	_T: 37.770364,-122.410351	88
51	Richard Florida	@Richard_Florida	Director, @MartinProsperiT University of Toronto, Global Research Professor NYU, Editor at Large @AtlanticCities		88
52	Natalie Ben	@natalieben	Leader of Green Party of England and Wales	London	87
53	Connie Hedegaard	@CoHedegaard	I am former EU Commissioner for Climate Action \| This feed is personally maintained by me \| Everything here is quotable \|	Brussels	87
54	Margaret E. Atwood	@MargaretAtwood	Author	Toronto	87
55	Laurel Davila	@laureldavilacpa	#Democrat #Feminist #Environmentalist #Humanist #LGBT Ally #CivilRights #Union #OFA #P2 #TopProg #UniteBlue #LibCrib #PDMFNB	Tustin and Irvine, California	87
56	Franke James	@frankejames	Blacklisted' Artist/author. See Oh No Canada! in Washington DC and Do Not Talk about Climate Change in Calgary Alberta	Toronto, Canada	87
57	Brad Plumer	@bradplumer	Reporter at the Washington Post. On the apocalypse beat, more or less.	Washington, DC	87
58	Elon Musk	@elonmusk	Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity & PayPal	AU	87
59	Jamie Henn	@Agent350	http://350.org Co-founder and Communications Director	San Francisco	87
60	Mark Lynas	@mark_lynas	Environmentalist. Author of 'Nuclear 2.0', 'Six Degrees' & 'The God Species'. Visiting Fellow at Cornell Uni.	Oxford	86
61	Alex Steffen	@AlexSteffen	I try to live well, have fun and be a good ancestor. Planetary Futurist in Residence at @IDEO; @planetarystory; @C02zero; @worldchanging. I block rudeness.	San Francisco	86
62	Marc Gunther	@MarcGunther	writer on business and nonprofits, editor-at-large Guardian Sustainable Business US, blogger at http://nonprofitchronicles.com	Bethesda, MD	86
63	Sarah Kliff	@sarahkliff	I write for Vox. Formerly: Washington Post, Politico, Newsweek and, back in the day, Student Life. Health-care nerd. sarah@vox.com	Washington, DC	86
64	JPascal van Ypersele	@JPvanYpersele	IPCC Vice-chair, physicist, UCLouvain Prof climatology, Royal Acad. Dedicated to policy-neutral, but relevant, assessments of climate issues to advance Humanity	Belgium	86
65	Matthew Rimmer	@DrRimmer	IP Academic, ARC Future Fellow, @ANU_Law, ACIPA. #Copyright #Patent #TradeMark #FairIT4Oz #3DPrinting #Biotech #Medicine #Plainpacks #Cleantech #Climate #TPP	Australia	86
66	Andrew Leach	@andrew_leach	Enbridge Professor of Energy Policy @ualberta. Delightfully wonkish. Troll with cred. My writing is as dense as a bucket of bitumen.	Edmonton, AB	86
67	Helen Clark	@HelenClarkUNDP	I'm Administrator @UNDP and former Prime Minister of #NewZealand, passionate about human #development world-wide.		86
68	Leo Hickman	@LeoHickman	Chief Adviser, Climate Change at @WWF_UK. Served 16 years at the Guardian. Author of A Life Stripped Bare, The Final Call, Will Jellyfish Rule the World?...		86
69	Adam Vaughn	@adamvaughn_uk	Editor of the Guardian's environment site (@guardianeco). Running addict. Email - firstname.lastname@theguardian.com	London, UK	86
70	Kelly Rigg	@kellyrigg	Executive Director of GCCA (tck).I've been running campaigns for longer than I care to remember, many of them for Greenpeace. Tweets reflect personal views only	Amsterdam	86
71	Greg Barker	@GregBarkerUK	Former MP, Minister for Energy and Climate Change & Prime Minister's Climate Envoy but now Chair of London Sustainable Development Commisson	East Sussex	86
72	Christopher Mims	@mims	Technology columnist at @WSJ. Texan.	Baltimore, Seattle, New York	86
73	Adam Bandt	@adambandt	MP for Melbourne & Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens. Authorised by Adam Bandt, 280 King St, Melbourne, VIC 3000.	Melbourne	86
74	Dana Nuccitelli	@dana1981	Environmental scientist and risk assessor by day. Climate blogger at http://SkepticalScience.com and The Guardian by night	West Sacramento, CA	86
75	Duncan Green	@fp2p	From Poverty to Power blog links and tweets from Oxfam's Senior Strategic Adviser, Duncan Green. Usual disclaimers.	UK	86
76	Peter Burton	@peteswildlife	all things nature and wildlife FB http://www.facebook.com/peter.burton.92351	UK Yorkshire	86
77	Jim Harris	@JimHarris	Former Leader, Green Party of Canada. International Bestselling Author & Keynote Speaker	Toronto, Canada	86
78	Alice Bell	@alicebell	Writer and researcher. Science, technology and the environment is my usual beat.	London	86
79	Sebastien Duyck	@duycks	Researcher (Human Rights, #Arctic Governance Climate Negotiations) at @Arctic_Centre, project manager & blogger on #UNFCCC for @tcktcktck, life-long learner	Bern, Switzerland	86
80	Gavin Schmidt	@ClimateOfGavin	Climate scientist, occasional juggler, even more occasional author, curious about how the world works.		86
81	Ben Goldsmith	@BJGoldsmith	Founder of green investment business, http://www.whebgroup.com, and executive producer of http://www.fireinbabylon.com.	London	85
82	Mohamed Nasheed	@MohamedNasheed	Maldives' first democratically-elected President, Amnesty Intl's Prisoner of Conscience, UN's Champion of the Earth, Newsweek's World's 10 Best Leaders	Maldives	85
83	Thomas Mulcair	@ThomasMulcair	Leader of Canada's New Democrats, Official Opposition http://www.npd.ca		85
84	Joss Garman	@jossgarman	Deputy Political Director of @greenpeaceuk, but tweeting here in personal capacity. #freethearctic30	London	85
85	Jim McClelland	@SustMeme	Sustainable Futurist, Writer, Speaker. Ex-Editor & Founder sustain'. Clean + Green, CSR, Built Enviro, Smart Cities, Swarm Theory. http://sustmememagazine.com/	UK	84
86	Stephen Lacey	@Stphn_Lacey	Senior Editor at Greentech Media. Host of the Energy Gang podcast. Tweeting about energy, cleantech, the environment, media, politics and technology trends. (Oh, and writer of CK's Tech Savvy column)	Washington, DC	84
87	Tzeporah Berman	@Tzeporah	Campaigns for clean energy. Focused on tarsands & pipelines. Former co-director Climate Unit Greenpeace International. Co-founder ForestEthics. Author. Mom.	Vancouver	84
88	Jo Confino	@joconfino	Jo Confino is an executive editor of the Guardian, chairman and editorial director of Guardian Sustainable Business and advisor to Guardian Media Group.	London	84
89	Jeremy Leggett	@JeremyLeggett	Entrepreneur & writer on the energy crisis & climate change. I founded and chair Solarcentury & SolarAid so I could act as well as prattle.	UK	84
90	Kate Galbraith	@KateGalbraith	Journalist @CALmatters. Alum of @TexasTribune, @nytimes, @TheEconomist. Co-author, The Great Texas Wind Rush.	San Francisco, CA	83
91	Michael Liebreich	@MLeibreich	Founder & CEO, Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Non-exec, TfL. Professor, Imperial Coll. Entrepreneur, Olympic skier, Londoner, dad. All views personal.	Notting Hill, London	82
92	Tom Steyer	@TomSteyer	California business leader. Philanthropist. Advanced energy advocate. Tartan tie enthusiast.	San Francisco, CA	82
93	David Biello	@dbiello	History is a race between education and catastrophe: HG Wells. Me: Environment & Energy editor @sciam working on book about Anthropocene. All views my own	New York, NY	82
94	Roger Harrabin	@RHarrabin	BBC Enviornment and Energy Analyst. Also interested in transport, cities, risk, sustainability - whatever that means		82
95	Alok Jha	@alokjha	Science correspondent at the Guardian and BBC TV presenter. Currently stuck in Antartica with the Australaisan Antarctic Expedition 2013 for @GdnAntartica		81
96	Mark Tercek	@MarkTercek	President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy and author of Nature's Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature. http://www.marktercek.com	Washington, DC	80
97	John Elkington	@volansjohn	Co-founder, Environmental Data Services ('78), SustainAbility ('87) and Volans ('08). Author 18 books. Blogs @ Volans, CSRWire, Guardian, johnelkington dot com.	London, UK	78
98	Steven Guilbeault	@s_guilbeault	Environmentalist, writer when i can find the time and very proud dad!	Quebec, Canada	78
99	Peggy Liu	@shanghaipeggy	@JUCCCE Chair. TIME Mag Enviro Hero. WEF Young Global Leader. The Hillary Step. China Business News: Top Innovative Business Leaders. Advisor to M&S, HP, FTSE	Shanghai	74
100	Bob Inglis	@bobinglis	Executive Director of The Energy and Enterprise Initiative and @republicEn. Former Rep. from SC's 4th District. #AreYouEn	South Carolina	70