Climate ads define the Inflation Reduction Act ahead of midterms
While climate groups tout clean energy job creation, right-wing groups lean heavily on misleading claims about taxes
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies that polluters and climate-action groups are using to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Google by several dozen groups and corporations from the past week, as well as what’s trending on social media. Tell your colleagues to subscribe here!
TL;DR:
The League of Conservation Voters and NRDC Action Fund launched Meta ads this week touting the economic and climate benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act almost immediately after President Joe Biden signed it into law.
Americans for Prosperity is running the biggest energy-related digital ad campaign opposing the new law among climate denying groups, attacking vulnerable House Democrats with misleading claims about the new tax changes.
Some Republicans are echoing the fossil fuel industry’s misleading claims about the bill in both digital ads and organic social media posts, particularly Rep. Dan Crenshaw and election denier John Gibbs in Michigan.
National Digital Ad Spending on Climate
Meta (Facebook + Instagram)
First, here are the top 25 spenders nationwide on climate and energy-related ads on Meta platforms from last week:
After nearly a year of tumultuous negotiations, the U.S. government is now making its biggest-ever investment to transition to clean energy and combat climate change with the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Climate groups in particular had a significant role to play in getting the bill over the finish line, as they spent over $200k on digital ads promoting the bill between its announcement and its passage out of the House. Now, some of those same groups are using their digital ad budgets to sell the new law to voters as this year’s midterm elections draw closer by the day.
The League of Conservation Voters and NRDC Action Fund in particular have quickly rolled out Meta ad campaigns right out of the gate. On Wednesday, the same day that President Joe Biden signed the IRA into law, the two groups rolled out ads lauding over two dozen Democratic lawmakers and touting the clean energy provisions and related economic benefits of the bill. Notably, LCV’s ads primarily target older voters in representatives’ districts, while the NRDC Action Fund is targeting young adults nationwide. We’ll also note that LCV’s affiliates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are running Meta ads thanking some of those state’s vulnerable House Democrats, “for supporting jobs, justice, and clean energy investments.” In next week’s Climate Monitor, we’ll have a clear picture of how much these groups are spending on these campaigns.
In other new climate group ad news, Evergreen Action is going up with ads supporting Govs. Gretchen Whitmer (MI) and Steve Sisolak (NV), touting the clean energy jobs they’ve recently enabled in their states.
Digital ad opposition from fossil fuel groups appears less organized, but the sparse ads we are seeing give us some insight into how they and Republicans may message around the bill in the coming months. One such group is the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity. Earlier this year, the group organized an elaborate campaign to amplify grievances around high gas prices, and they’re now targeting a dozen vulnerable House Democrats with Meta ads that are riddled with misleading claims about the IRA.
Additionally, The Heritage Foundation, through its pseudo-news brand The Daily Signal, is advertising an article to swing state voters claiming that “The bill will likely increase near-term inflation, depress household incomes, and produce the long-term deficits that fuel long-term inflation.” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers is also claiming in a new ad that they oppose the bill because it “falls short of supporting strong U.S. refining and petrochemical industries.”
Google + YouTube
Last week, we saw a general decline in Google political ad spending by climate and fossil fuel groups alike as they wound down campaigns on the platform concerning the IRA. One notable new campaign came from AFP, which spent $3,300 on a misleading campaign attacking Gov. Tony Evers (WI) over a proposed “gas tax increase.”
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.
CO-SEN: Michael Bennet launched a fundraising ad shortly after the IRA passed out of the Senate: “We are facing an environmental crisis, and I’m proud to have supported the Inflation Reduction Act - the largest investment in our nation’s history to combat climate change.”
MI-03: Election denier John Gibbs falsely claimed that the IRA will “raise Americans’ electricity and gas bills even more by imposing billions of dollars in new taxes and fees on domestic energy.”
NY-19: Ahead of the upcoming New York primaries, Republican Marc Molinaro is attacking the Biden administration: “Gas prices are up nearly 60% and Joe Biden is selling oil from our nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Have you had enough of Biden’s anti-American energy policies?”
RI-02: Democrat Seth Magaziner launched one of his last ad campaigns before the state’s primary elections, saying that if elected he’ll work to, among other things, “build an affordable clean energy economy.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
The Wilderness Society and Wilderness Society Action this week launched a digital ad campaign opposing fossil fuel extraction on public lands in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Some of these ads criticize fossil fuel companies for exploiting the war in Ukraine to expand domestic production, but most of the ads highlight how people of color in these states are disproportionately affected by the resulting air pollution.
Tracking climate misinformation online
Triplecheck found that this week, more than 15 million people were exposed to climate misinformation on Twitter during the time period reviewed, an increase of 50 percent from last week's exposure levels. The content had over 33,000 engagements on Facebook, a decrease of 30 percent from last week's exposure levels. The content had over 4,100,000 views on Telegram, a decrease of 10 percent from last week's exposure levels.
The top narratives and themes are below. You can find Triplecheck’s full report here.
The Inflation Reduction Act wastes billions on climate
12,000,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 3,500 engagements on Facebook
The Inflation Reduction Act wastes billions on climate
12,000,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 3,500 engagements on Facebook
Climate change is a hoax
3,100,000 human accounts exposed on Twitter
Over 2,700 engagements on Facebook
Over 250,000 views on Telegram.
What’s trending organically?
Last week, Heather Cox Richardson made the two most engaged Facebook posts mentioning climate change, energy, and related terms when the historian discussed, among other things the enactment of the PACT Act and the House passing the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, a very positive piece from Fortune discussing the passage of the IRA and improving consumer sentiment got 37k interactions, and President Joe Biden got 29k interactions on a post celebrating decreasing gas prices. As a matter of fact, Newsmax also made a post about declining gas prices, and it got 20k interactions, but the comment section of their post is full of users asserting that gas is still two dollars too expensive.
The most engaged post from climate skeptics came from Evangelical actor Kirk Cameron, who got 27k interactions on a post claiming he would buy an oil field, saying “MADE IN THE USA IS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE.” Finally, right-wing meme page Dumbocrats mocked Transporation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for advocating for Americans to buy electric vehicles that may still be powered by dirty energy. Their post got 19.6k 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 Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who attacked the IRA with false arguments that it would “add billions in new costs to oil and gas production, making inflation even worse.” His post got over 150k interactions. Meanwhile, posts celebrating the IRA from Joe Biden and Leonardo DiCaprio, the latter of whom reposted from NRDC and NRDC Action Fund, drove a cumulative 193.8k interactions.
Finally, we’ll note that social media users are still dunking on Taylor Swift, the Kardashians, and other big celebrities over their frequent private jet flights during the climate crisis. Last week, a North West satire account got more interactions on a recent post about Kourtney Kardashian flying commercial than the president’s post above.
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.