2026 Super Bowl Ads Reflect The Country's Abandonment Of A Promising Green-energy Transition

These days, almost each taste aliases news arena seems fleeting. But there’s 1 point that feels astir arsenic momentous arsenic it did 20 years ago: nan Super Bowl.

From a individual constituent of view, I tin opportunity that contempt fundamentally divesting myself from shot (I haven’t watched a non-Super Bowl NFL crippled successful good complete a decade, and haven’t played imagination shot for conscionable arsenic long), I still participate successful what has become, essentially, a nationalist holiday. Maybe that’s conscionable it: In nan ideologically fractured world of 2026, there’s thing to beryllium said for having astatine slightest 1 comparatively cosmopolitan experience.

In immoderate case, specified a uniquely shared media arena inevitably reflects nan taste milieu of nan moment. That’s why, for a while now, I’ve been search really galore of nan commercials that aerial during each year’s Super Bowl person immoderate narration to nan biology issues that I’ve been covering for astir of my profession arsenic a journalist. I started this task erstwhile I was an editor astatine Time magazine, and thought it merited revisiting this year. Here’s what I found.

During Super Bowl LX connected Sunday, location were conscionable 2 commercials that focused successful a meaningful measurement connected products that would beforehand a modulation to a fossil-fuel-free economy. One was for nan 2026 Jeep Cherokee Hybrid. The different was for a Chinese supercar made by a vacuum-cleaner company.

It wasn’t agelong agone that home manufacturers were trading a early based connected electrical vehicles of each shapes and sizes. During nan 2022 Super Bowl, nan 2nd twelvemonth of Joe Biden’s presidency, 7 different ads focused specifically connected existing and caller EV models. Those were successful immoderate ways nan halcyon days of American EV manufacturing, pursuing nan transition of nan Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which, successful part, offered a $7,500 taxation in installments to anyone who bought a caller electrical car.

The 2nd Trump management quickly put an extremity to that; nan in installments was nixed arsenic of Sept. 30 past year. That was conscionable 1 of galore moves Trump has made since retaking agency to anesthetize nan United States’ nascent greenish economy. Over nan past year, nan Trump management has tried to unopen down offshore upwind power projects while demanding nan maturation of nan ember industry; reversed cardinal policies that antecedently established ineligible precedent for nan nationalist wellness effect of greenhouse gases; and mostly tried to undermine efforts by galore states, California especially, to found and modulate policies meant to make their infrastructure little limited connected fossil fuels.

So it’s nary astonishment that successful 2026, nan 2nd twelvemonth of Trump’s 2nd presidency, location was conscionable 1 Super Bowl advertisement for a domestically produced greenish merchandise — and it wasn’t moreover wholly green. Indeed, it reflects a caller inclination crossed nan U.S.: Since nan national clean-vehicle taxation credits expired successful September, income of purely electrical vehicles person plummeted, while those of hybrids person continued to grow, according to nan U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Tellingly, 4 different companies — Cadillac, Toyota, Volkswagen and Chevrolet — had ads that showed an EV but didn’t mention it. It’s go much thing to hide than to promote.

Then there’s nan 1 different green-energy advertisement this year, which, honestly, you could quibble pinch categorizing arsenic “green.” It’s a reportedly $10-million spot for an electrical sports car, theoretically to beryllium made by nan Chinese institution Dreame, which to day has chiefly produced robotic vacuum cleaners. I opportunity theoretical because it seems somewhat improbable that an outfit that made its seed building knockoff Roombas will beryllium trading an electrical ace car anytime soon. (As of writing, Dreame has not responded to emailed questions.)

Nevertheless, it is suggestive of different trend: Tesla is down; BYD is up. U.S. car companies for illustration Ford can’t look to fig out really to modulation to a gas-less (or, astatine least, little gas-forward) future, while galore Chinese firms, immoderate without immoderate automotive heritage, specified arsenic nan consumer-tech institution Xiaomi, are already driving laps astir U.S. and European competitors successful what is intelligibly nan title for nan early of world car-manufacturing dominance.

In 2025, more than half the cars made successful China were EVs. And China is moving to powerfulness those electrical cars pinch renewable energy, while nan U.S. is mostly swimming against nan tide. In 2025, China installed an estimated 315 gigawatts of star and 119 gigawatts of upwind capacity; nan U.S. added an estimated 60 gigawatts of solar and 7 gigawatts of wind capacity successful nan aforesaid time.

Green tech doesn’t look to person overmuch taste rate correct now successful nan U.S., astatine slightest based connected nan Super Bowl advertisement lineup. What does, though, is artificial intelligence. There were astatine slightest 8 different Super Bowl commercials for AI products, and galore much that evidently utilized AI successful their production.

Even mounting speech nan galore intellectual-property and ethical issues they raise, there’s nan reality that these AI devices trust connected information centers that, successful turn, require a immense magnitude of power to run — power that should, ideally, beryllium coming much and much from renewable sources.

Maybe it’s not each that sexy to advertise star panels aliases upwind turbines — but it besides wasn’t that agelong agone that a transportation astir talking to your hand-held machine to thief pinch your scheduling would person seemed beautiful lame.

More successful ambiance and culture

One much point astir nan Super Bowl: In this beautiful cool video, Pearl Marvell, an editor astatine Yale Climate Connections, collapsed down nan ambiance alteration references successful Bad Bunny’s halftime performance.

In different sports+climate news, my workfellow Kevin Baxter, reporting from Italy, wrote astir the effect ambiance alteration is having connected this — and early — Winter Olympics. The bottommost line: Athletes are going to person to expect little caller powder, and woody pinch much dangerous, icy conditions.

Last sports-related communicative of nan week: My erstwhile workfellow Sammy Roth precocious wrote a bully floor plan of Jacquie Pierri, who plays for nan Italian women’s lucky squad and moonlights arsenic a sustainable-energy technologist and ambiance activist. Italy plays nan U.S. successful nan quarterfinals connected Friday.

On a different note, connected nan podcast Zero, Akshat Rathi this week interviewed composer Julia Wolfe astir really she uses classical euphony to activity through, and communicate, her feelings astir nan ambiance crisis.

A mates of past things successful ambiance news this week

California created a programme meant to promote nan improvement of electrical semitrucks. But, arsenic my workfellow Tony Briscoe reported a fewer days ago, Tesla took advantage of it, claiming astir of nan money while failing to present and fundamentally bullying smaller manufacturers retired of nan space.

The Trump management has indicated that it plans this week to rescind nan alleged endangerment finding, a argumentation establishing nan truth that greenhouse gases endanger nationalist health, and that fundamentally acts arsenic nan ineligible underpinning for galore ambiance regulations passed successful caller years. Stay tuned — our reporters will person much connected this arsenic nan communicative develops.

This is nan latest version of Boiling Point, a newsletter astir ambiance alteration and nan situation successful nan American West. Sign up present to get it successful your inbox. And perceive to our Boiling Point podcast here.