Philanthropy and activism
In addition to her film work, Cotillard is active in philanthropy, environmental and social activism, and has participated in campaigns for environmental protection, in particular Greenpeace, for whom she nearly quit acting to join and has been a member of and acted as a spokesperson since 2001. In the late 1990s, Cotillard refused an advertising contract with L'Oréal due to the company's animal testing practices. In 2003, she volunteered to have her home tested for toxic chemicals as part of the Greenpeace's Vacuum Clean the Chemical Industry campaign. In 2005, she contributed to Dessins pour le climat ("Drawings for the Climate"), a book of drawings published by Greenpeace to raise funds for the group. In 2010, she travelled to Congo with Greenpeace to visit tropical rainforests threatened by logging companies, which was later shown in the documentary The Congolese Rainforests: Living on Borrowed Time, hosted by Cotillard. She is also Greenpeace's Ocean Ambassador, and in 2020 she travelled to the Antarctic aboard the Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise along with Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgård, Chinese actress Ni Ni and penguin scientists as part of an expedition that became a documentary series to highlight the impact of climate change, plastic pollution, and industrial fishing on the region.
Cotillard supports The Heart Fund, an international public charity that is a pioneer in technological innovation to combat cardiovascular diseases in children, and is also a member of World Wide Fund for Nature, and the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, which supports environmental initiatives in France and abroad to engage the ecological transition of societies. Cotillard is also the patron of Maud Fontenoy Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to teaching children about preserving the oceans; and the ambassador of Association Wayanga, a French association that supports indigenous peoples for their rights and the preservation of their cultures and the Amazon Forest they inhabit.
In 2009, Cotillard was one of many celebrities to record a cover version of the song "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil, in support of the TckTckTck campaign and climate justice. In the same year, Cotillard designed her own doll for UNICEF France campaign "Les Frimousses Font Leur Cinéma", that was sold to help vaccinate thousands of children in Darfur. In 2011, she publicly supported Chief Raoni in his fight against the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil and signed his petition.
In 2012, Cotillard was featured on Kate Winslet's book The Golden Hat: Talking Back To Autism, with celebrity self-portraits to raise awareness and support for autism launched by Winslet's Golden Hat Foundation. In 2013, she caged herself near Paris's Louvre museum to demand the freeing of 30 Greenpeace activists jailed in Russia over an Arctic protest. She entered the cage and held a banner proclaiming "I am a climate defender".
In February 2014, she signed The Tiger Manifesto, a campaign calling for an end to everyday products being manufactured through forest destruction. Launched by Greenpeace, the campaign is encouraging consumers to demand products are forest and tiger-friendly, particularly in Indonesia, where the Sumatran tiger is on brink of extinction. In May 2014, Greenpeace released the animated video The Amazon's Silent Crisis, narrated by Cotillard. The video highlights the troubling illegal logging that threatens the Brazilian Amazon.
On 26 February 2015, she went to the Philippines along France's then-President François Hollande and actress Mélanie Laurent, to participate on a forum and encourage faster and more determined action on the global challenge of climate change. At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, director Mark Osborne revealed that Cotillard used to visit Children's Hospitals and play The Rose (from the book The Little Prince) for the kids, years before she voiced the same character in the 2015 film The Little Prince, directed by Osborne.
Cotillard was the ambassador for "1 Heart 1 Tree", an art project that fights climate change through its Plant for the Planet reforestation program. On 29 November 2015, The Eiffel Tower became a virtual forest with trees and words encouraging environmental activism projected onto it every evening. Cotillard and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated the light installation on the eve of the official opening of the COP21 conference. She also donated her shoes to be displayed among an installation of over 10,000 shoes at the Place de la Republique in Paris on the eve of the U.N. climate conference (COP21). The installation replaced a giant march for climate change that was forbidden by French authorities following the deadly attacks in the capital on 13 November that killed 130 people.
On 10 December 2015, Cotillard voiced the French version of the short film Home, made by Conservation International (CI). The short film debuted at the United Nations Momentum for Change Awards ceremony at the climate negotiations (COP21) in Paris. It was the latest addition to CI's award-winning Nature Is Speaking short film series, and was produced to remind negotiators and world leaders on how to care for the Earth. "This Earth is our shared home, our only home. The time to safeguard its future – and with it our own future – is right now," said Cotillard.
In 2018, Cotillard signed a letter calling for strong action to stop climate change and biodiversity loss. In 2019, she signed the petition Résister et créer ("Resist and Create"), created by the movement On Est Prêt along with Cyril Dion to challenge the world of cinema at a time of mobilizations for the climate.
Cotillard is a supporter of the French gender equality group Collectif 50/50. On 12 May 2018, Cotillard was one of the 82 women who marched up the stairs to the Cannes Film Festival to protest gender inequality in the film industry.
In November 2019, Cotillard supported French actress Adèle Haenel for speaking out about the sexual abuse she experienced as a child from director Christophe Ruggia.
In March 2020, Cotillard participated on a public service announcement from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health to help educate people on COVID-19 and encouraged them to listen to the health experts to avoid spreading the virus.
In October 2022, Cotillard and other French actresses publicly cut locks from their hair in a video shared on social media with the hashtag #HairForFreedom in support of Iranian protesters following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic of Iran's dress code by not wearing the hijab. In December 2022, Cotillard signed an open letter demanding the release of Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, who had been arrested for standing in solidarity with imprisoned Iranian filmmakers who protested against the Iranian regime. Alidoosti was released on bail in January 2023.
In June 2023, Cotillard expressed her "total support" to the French environmental group Les Soulèvements de la Terre ("The Earth Uprisings Collective"), after the group was dissolved by the French government. Cotillard said; "What is happening in our country is extremely serious. Those who warn of the eminently dangerous drift of our world and our humanity, activists who call for government action that lives up to the urgency, are now described as criminals or eco-terrorists," she said. And this while those who continue to invest massively in fossil fuels putting in jeopardy the living conditions on our planet are never worried. The security drift of this government, coupled with its inability to protect us from the consequences of climate change, is frightening. But these intimidations will not be able to silence us. Today, in our country, freedom is in danger."
In November 2023, Cotillard joined more than 500 figures from French cinema in an open letter calling for "a silent march of solidarity, humanism and peace" in Paris in response to the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
In December 2025, after French First Lady Brigitte Macron made a sexist remark toward feminist activists who were protesting at comedian Ary Abittan's stand-up show that Macron attended (after Abittan was accused of raping a woman in 2021), describing them as "stupid bitches", Cotillard shared a post on Instagram supporting the activists, saying; "I'm a stupid bitch. And proud to be one." The case caused a lot of controversy in France and Macron later apologized.
In January 2026, Cotillard was among the 800 film professionals who signed a statement condemning the Iranian regime for the violence inflicted on Iranian citizens protesting against the government and economic hardship.
