BP promises to invest “outside” oil and gas in new six-figure digital ad campaign
Meanwhile, major climate groups are using the Inflation Reduction Act to uplift vulnerable House Democrats
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies polluters and climate-action groups use to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on social media platforms, as well as what’s trending on social media. Tell your colleagues to subscribe here!
TL;DR:
BP America, the American Chemistry Council, and Natural Allies for a Clean Future all launched new Meta ad campaigns last week that portray themselves or their non-renewable products as sustainable or environmentally friendly.
NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters are collaborating on new digital ads connecting vulnerable House Democrats and the clean energy benefits of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act.
However, we have yet to see many Democratic candidates explicitly cite the IRA in their own digital ads.
Climate Power is using digital ads to engage grassroots activists now that the federal government is making its biggest climate investment ever.
In the NY-19 special election, victorious Democrat Pat Ryan spent half of his ad buy on a spot railing against a regional utility’s greed.
On social media, skepticism around electric vehicles was pervasive last week. Rep. Dan Crenshaw pushed the idea that EVs will be partly powered by fossil fuels, and the discontinuation of gas-powered Dodge Challengers and Chargers in favor of electric models stoked significant EV discussion among car enthusiasts on Instagram.
National Digital Ad Spending on Climate
First, here are the top 25 spenders nationwide on climate and energy-related ads on Meta platforms from last week:
Last week, we saw Meta political ad spending by climate groups decline by nearly 25%, as many ended campaigns pushing for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. However, there are still a few groups still using Meta ads to communicate what’s in the new law now that the media cycle has largely moved on. Climate Power spent the most on pro-IRA ads last week with news clips discussing how the law can save folks money and video ads appealing directly to young activists for the work they’ve put in to make the law a reality, telling them, “YOU got this done!”
NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters are also now running video ads supporting a few vulnerable House Democrats, including Reps. Slotkin, Spanberger, Luria, and Malinowski. Their ads highlight how the law will “bring down energy costs, create clean energy jobs, and fund agriculture and conservation efforts.” Finally, the Center for American Progress spent $22.6k on ads highlighting how families will save money with clean energy.
On the other hand, Meta political ad spending by fossil fuel companies grew by a whopping 60% last week, with a handful of groups launching huge new greenwashing campaigns. The American Chemistry Council spent $92.7k on the platform last week, primarily on ads profiling an “environmentalist” and an “advocate” working in the plastics industry with good intentions. BP America also spent $86.7k last week on a brand new campaign claiming that the company is “transforming” to increase investments “outside of oil & gas, including into wind, solar & EV charging.” Interestingly, BP’s campaign almost exclusively targets men aged 25 to 44. Lastly, the methane advocacy group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future is targeting the Washington DC area with favorable news clips, including a Bloomberg op-ed from Vox co-founder Matthew Yglesias arguing that “Natural Gas Is Better Than Many Environmentalists Admit.”
We’ll also note that the American Petroleum Institute has new ads calling on the Biden administration to resume oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, dramatically claiming that “THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ENERGY IS AT STAKE.”
Google + YouTube
The League of Conservation Voters and NRDC have partnered to run YouTube ads boosting Sen. Raphael Warnock and more than 20 vulnerable House Democrats. Last week, the two groups spent a combined $48.1k on the platform touting how those Democrats have enabled new clean energy jobs, energy savings, and climate action by passing the IRA. You can check out one of their ads below.
We also found that anti-extraction non-profit Earthworks spent $4,800 on a YouTube ad featuring young people pleading with the Biden administration to prevent the creation of a methane pollution loophole. The ad exclusively targets Washington, DC, so we can assume that it’s intended to directly influence policymakers.
Overall, here’s how much these groups spent on Google political ads last week:
Snapchat
There were no new or ongoing political ad campaigns concerning climate change or energy on Snapchat. Overall, here’s how much groups have invested in the platform so far this year:
Climate & Energy Ads in the 2022 Elections
We identified a few digital ad campaigns about energy from battleground midterm campaigns across the country.
IL-17: Republican Esther Joy King is running a new ad against the IRA: “Inflation is hurting families and my opponent, climate activist Eric Sorenson, is supporting a spending deal that would make inflation worse and raise taxes on low- and middle-income Americans.”
MT-01: Democrat Monica Tranel, running against former Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, is running a new video ad highlighting her activism against a regional utility: “Monica took NorthWestern Energy all the way to the Supreme Court to lower energy costs and stopped a New York hedge fund from cheating Montana businesses.”
NV-SEN: Catherine Cortez Masto is running a series of new vertical video ads touting her climate work: “I’m working to create clean energy jobs and improve our water access so we can protect Nevada as our home for the next generation.”
NY-03: Republican George Devolder Santos launched a new ad parroting Big Oil rhetoric: “America has the resources to become energy independent. It’s time we elect leaders who won’t make us rely on unstable regimes for energy and get us back to true energy independence!”
NY-19: Democratic congressman-elect Pat Ryan spent half of his ad buy on a spot railing against local utilities: “Big utility companies have a monopoly on our power, so they think they can do whatever they want. I’m Pat Ryan and…I use MY power to hold greedy corporations accountable, like when Central Hudson Utilities was ripping off OUR community…I approve this message because big corporations have too much power. It’s time our families had more.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
This week, the Land Stewardship Project launched Meta ads promoting recent grassroots activism against factory farming in southeast Minnesota. A factory farm in Winona County uses so much fertilizer that it pollutes the greater community’s drinking water, forcing residents to get all of their potable water from plastic bottles. You can read more about the campaign on LSP’s website.
Tracking climate misinformation online
This week, more than 30 million people were exposed to climate misinformation on Twitter, an increase of 100 percent from last week's exposure levels. The content had over 43,000 engagements on Facebook, an increase of 30 percent from last week's exposure levels. The content had over 5,300,000 views on Telegram, an increase of 30 percent from last week's exposure levels. Content this week centered around the release of the World Climate Declaration, an "urgent message" prepared by a "network of more than 1,100 scientists and professionals" concluding that "there is no climate emergency."
Approximately 95 percent of the people exposed to misinformation or toxic narratives related to the environment on Twitter were exposed to one of the themes below. These narratives were also the focus of almost 70 percent of the Facebook engagements, as well as approximately 45 percent of Telegram views identified in our tracking.
Top narratives and themes are below. You can find Triplecheck’s full report here.
The World Climate Declaration concludes there is no climate emergency
2,000,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 14,000 engagements on Facebook
Over 330,000 views on Telegram
Climate activists and celebrities are hypocrites for using private jets
9,900,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 7,300 engagements on Facebook
The Inflation Reduction Act is the Green New Deal with the addition of 87,000 IRS agents
6,000,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 360 engagements on Facebook
What’s trending organically?
Last week, the top Facebook post mentioning climate change, energy, or related terms came from the pro-Trump meme page President Trump Updates, in which they said that “anyone wearing a MAGA hat should get a 50% discount on their gasoline.” Otherwise, four of the top ten relevant Facebook posts concerned the Inflation Reduction Act. One post from the White House, which got 47.2k interactions, emphasized how the new law will “bring down the sticker price of electric vehicles.” However, most of that engagement was not positive, as it got 14k “Haha” reactions and 22.7k comments, many of which were highly disparaging of the Biden administration and EVs; one comment, which got 12k likes, read, “We don't want electric vehicles. We want real vehicles.”
We also found that skepticism about the net emission reduction of EV adoption may be a significant rhetorical point against them. Earlier this month, a right-wing Facebook meme page mocked EVs for being ultimately coal-powered, and last week, Rep. Dan Crenshaw used the same idea to argue against the IRA’s EV tax credits, getting 45.6k interactions.
Overall, here’s how the most engaged content on Facebook breaks down:
On Instagram, the most engaged posts about climate or energy came from Instagram, which recently profiled progressive activist Daphne Frias. National Geographic also made a pair of highly engaged posts, which recently showcased ancient remains exposed from melting glaciers and two climbers’ historic, climate-focused Arctic climb.
Otherwise, we found that Dodge discontinuing their combustion engine Challenger and Charger cars - and the subsequent announcement of new electric versions of those models - drove significant engagement on Instagram, particularly for car-focused pages. One of the top posts about the new models, from MotorTrend, got nearly 76k interactions, while a post from pop culture page Say Cheese TV discussing the final gas-powered Challengers/Chargers coming out next year got 68k interactions.
Overall, here’s how the most engaged content on Instagram mentioning climate, energy, and related terms breaks down:
That’s it for Climate Monitor this week. As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line by shooting an email to nick@fwiwmedia.com.