A climate group spent over $145,000 this week to celebrate President Biden’s climate wins
A roundup of the climate conversation across social media this week
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly, data-driven report on the digital strategies polluters and pro-Climate groups are using to shift public opinion and move legislation. Here’s what we found:
Toplines:
Clean Energy for America Education Fund spent a TON of money on ads celebrating the impact of the Biden administration’s Clean Energy Plan
President Biden pulled no punches in a Facebook post attacking Trump for his stance on EVs
Climate change will apparently play a central (and chilling) role in the plot of the Ghostbusters movie
A top model from Brazil is using her platform to raise awareness for climate change’s impacts on her home and around the world
Digital Advertising Roundup
Facebook + Instagram 👍
Clean Energy for America Education Fund was one of the top spenders on climate-related Facebook and Instagram ads this week (breaking up the Big Oil and Gas spenders that usually top the charts). They spent ~$146,000 on ads in key battleground states like Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina that tout the accomplishments of President Biden’s Clean Energy Plan.
Another new and notable campaign on Facebook and Instagram this week came from the Environmental Voter Project, which seeks to “identify inactive environmentalists and transform them into consistent voters.” They are running GOTV ads on Facebook and Instagram in key cities and states, like Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, and Georgia, to encourage climate voters to get out to the polls.
There were also a number of new and notable ads from state-specific climate groups on Facebook and Instagram this week. Conservation Voters of PA dropped $$$ on a video attack ad about GOP Supreme Court candidate Carolyn Carluccio (who lost last Tuesday) and her ties to big corporate polluters. The ad ran on Facebook and Instagram in the Keystone State, and you can check it out here >>>
Over on the West Coast, the Almond Board of California is back and is running ads on Facebook and Instagram nationwide that tout the sustainable practices of almond farming and claim that it’s “good for you and the planet.”
And finally, the Alaska Wilderness League is running Facebook and Instagram ads nationwide, calling on people to publicly tell President Biden to enact “landscape-level” protections for the Arctic.
Google & YouTube 🎞️
There were several noteworthy climate or energy advertisers archived by Google last week – most of these organizations have been running ads for several weeks. Maine Affordable Energy ($12,900) is continuing to run ads that tell Mainers to vote no on Question 3. Clean Virginia ($6,600) ran for pro-climate candidates in Virginia ahead of their 2023 State Assembly elections last week. And finally, Clean Jobs for Michigan ($9,800) is running game-show-style ads asking Michiganders if they want clean energy legislation (and thanking Michigan elected officials who have already done it).
Snapchat 🤳
There were no new ad climate or energy campaigns archived by Snapchat this week.
What’s Trending on Social Media
How are climate and energy issues being discussed by Americans on social media? Every week, we conduct a robust keyword search using CrowdTangle for general terms like “climate change,” “global warming,” “fossil fuels,” and over 40 more specific topics (like “electric vehicles,” “gas stoves” and “pipelines”). Here were the 10 top-performing public posts (by # of interactions) related to climate and energy on Facebook last week:
Last week, over 10,800 public Facebook posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 623,600 interactions.
President Joe Biden posted a video on Facebook this week that received a good amount of engagement: Biden attacked Trump for his anti-EV stance while in office. You can check it out here >>>
Another climate-related topic that was making the rounds this week was the teaser trailer for the new Ghostbusters movie. Accounts like Rolling Stone and io9 (from Gizmodo) posted about the plot of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which apparently features a sudden freeze that endangers lives and puts the climate conversation front and center.
And finally, the conservative account Turning Point USA posted a video of GOP commentator Candice Owens telling students not to believe what the government tells them about climate change.
Here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 10,600 public Instagram feed posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 12.8 million interactions.
The top three climate-related posts on Instagram this past week (in order) came from @earth about a recent haunting photo entitled “House of Bears,” from @janefonda about victories by Jane Fonda Climate PAC-endorsed candidates last week, and from @environment about the record-breaking October heat this year.
Weekly Reading
Want to go deeper? Here’s a quick roundup of news from the past week at the intersection of climate, digital strategy, and advocacy.
P.S. Are you signed up for Climate Nexus’ daily newsletter, Hot News? It’s a one-stop shop for everything you need to know in the climate and environmental policy space. Subscribe here>>
Model Zaya Guarani, who is a member of the Kamurape and Guarani Mbya ethnicities in Brazil, is using her platform to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change in her home country and around the world (Vogue, 11/9)
The Texas Board of Education is being pressured by GOP lawmakers to reject climate-accurate textbooks (Mother Jones, 11/14)
A new study from researchers at Nature examined how we can harness neuroscience to comprehend and combat the climate crisis (Nature, 11/13)
That’s it for this week! If you enjoyed reading this week’s issue, feel free to forward it to a friend or colleague.
Climate Monitor is a product of the Digital Climate Coalition + FWIW Media. Tips/comments/questions? Email lucy@fwiwmedia.com