Her work focuses on drawing attention to the impacts of climate change on African communities and advocating for renewable energy projects in Ugandan schools.

[4] Eventually, other youth began to respond to her calls on social media for others to help draw attention to the plight of the Congolian rainforests.

[7] In December 2019, Nakate spoke at the COP25 gathering in Spain, together with the young climate activists Greta Thunberg and Alejandro Martínez.

[10] In October 2020, Nakate gave a speech at the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture urging world leaders to "wake up" and recognise climate change as a crisis, tying it to poverty, hunger, disease, conflict and violence against women and girls.

[13] On 9 July 2020 Vanessa Nakate was interviewed by Angelina Jolie hosted by Time magazine about the power and importance of African voices in the climate justice movement.

[15] In August 2020, Vanessa Nakate joined former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Forum Alpbach to discuss climate activism.

[16] In September, Nakate spoke on a panel entitled "Sparking an Era of Transformational Climate Leadership" organised by the World Resources Institute.

[21] Nakate was a keynote speaker at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2021 on 16 March 2021 alongside other notable world leaders.

[22][23] Her delivery included criticism of the German Federal Foreign Office as organizers for screening the input from youth climate activists that was not applied to other invited speakers.

[27] Nakate considers the late Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, to be a role model.

"[31] In January 2020, the Associated Press (AP) news agency cropped Nakate out from a photo she appeared in featuring Greta Thunberg and activists Luisa Neubauer, Isabelle Axelsson, and Loukina Tille after they all attended the World Economic Forum.