Climate Groups 🤝 the Virginia 2023 Elections
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:
Several environmental advocacy groups like Clean Virginia and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters are getting involved in Virginia’s 2023 elections by running ads to support pro-climate candidates
The Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign doesn’t want people to forget that there is still work to be done to protect arctic lands from drilling
The Biden administration is touting the fact that thousands of young Americans have already signed up for President Biden’s Climate Corps
The alleged zombie viruses frozen in permafrost – and the fact that they might thaw due to global warming – are going viral on Instagram
Digital Advertising Roundup
Facebook + Instagram 👍
For starters, here were the top 25 climate and energy-related advertisers on Facebook and Instagram last week:
A top spender on digital ads in the climate and energy space last week was the American Petroleum Institute. They have been a top spender for weeks.
One new and notable ad campaign this week came from the League of Conservation Voters. They are running graphic ads on Facebook and Instagram thanking elected officials like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Summer Lee for pushing for strong emissions standards – the ads are being run in each of the elected leader’s respective states.
Another notable campaign came from Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs – whose ads are running on Facebook and Instagram across Michigan. They ask Michiganders to sign a petition in support of “a Clean Energy Future Plan” and specifically cite two bills in the MI Legislature, SB 273 and HB 4761.
Following President Biden’s actions to protect the Arctic this past September, the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign is running new ads to remind people that there is still work to be done to prevent drilling on these lands. They are running on Instagram and Facebook nationwide.
And finally, Turn Forward is running new video ads on Facebook and Instagram in the North East. The videos highlight how offshore wind workers are proud to do a job that helps them build a better future for their kids and grandkids. Check it out here >>>
Google & YouTube 🎞️
There were several new and noteworthy climate or energy advertisers archived by Google last week. Maine Affordable Energy ($45,600) is continuing to run ads that tell Mainers to vote no on Question 3. The NextGen Climate Action Committee ($10,300), Clean Virginia ($5,900), and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters ($7,400) are all running ads for pro-climate candidates in Virginia ahead of their 2023 elections (more on that below!). And finally, the American Petroleum Institute ($9,200) is also running ads in Virginia: they are warning Virginians that if they elect progressive candidates, they will be hit with electric vehicle mandates.
Snapchat 🤳
There was one new and noteworthy climate or energy advertiser on Snapchat last week: New Mexico Clean Air is running ads in support of electric vehicles and the New Mexicans who love them.
🔦 Spotlight: Climate Groups 🤝 the Virginia 2023 Elections
Election Day 2023 is only a few weeks away in Virginia, and the stakes are incredibly high. Every seat in the Virginia General Assembly – which is made up of 100 members in the House of Delegates and 40 members in the State Senate – is up for election. As things currently stand, Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate whereas Republicans have a slim majority in the House, as well as a GOP powerhouse in the form of Governor Glenn Youngkin. And with crucial issues like abortion hanging in the balance, each side is pushing hard to take control of the State Assembly.
In the midst of this electoral whirlwind, climate and energy issues have also taken center stage. In Virginia, there is a longstanding power struggle between Clean Virginia, a non-profit focused on climate action and impeding Big Oil monopolies, and Dominion Energy, a Richmond-based energy company that has donated $15 million this year alone to political candidates, Republican and Democrat alike.
Now, Clean Virginia is taking the fight to elect pro-climate (and anti-Big Oil) candidates in Virginia to the digital space – and they aren’t the only ones. The Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the NextGen Climate Action Committee are also getting involved in this year’s elections and running digital ads in favor of specific VA candidates. Here’s a closer look 👇
CLEAN VIRGINIA
Clean Virginia is running on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Google and YouTube, across the Commonwealth. The ads actually don’t feature many climate issues directly and instead focus heavily on trustworthiness and fighting back against corporate corruption. The group is also notably running ads in Spanish.
The ads also seem to be geared towards introducing new candidates (who are not incumbents) and sharing a bit about why their backgrounds and expertise make them particularly equipped to combat corruption (read: stand up to Dominion Energy).
THE VIRGINIA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS
The Virginia League of Conservation Voters is also running ads on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Google and YouTube. Their ads are focused on climate more specifically: some of their ads display the climate victories that incumbents have, as well as the climate expertise that new candidates could bring to office.
Some of their ads, however, are attack ads and instead focus on harms that GOP candidates and tie their misdeeds to the potential harm they could cause to the environment and to Virginians if they are elected.
NEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION COMMITTEE
The NextGen Climate Action Committee is taking a bit of a different approach. In addition to running ads on Google and YouTube, they are also running ads on Snapchat – which is a platform that a lot of younger people utilize. These ads address climate issues, like fracking, but also take on other key issues, like rising costs and abortion access. The ads also don’t discuss specific candidates and instead use Governor Glenn Youngkin – who is actually not up for election – as a symbol for the GOP’s agenda in Virginia (which, to be fair, he pretty much is).
All in all, the choice by these industry organizations to run these ads is a pretty smart one. Across party lines, climate is one of the top issues for young voters – and these ads will likely serve to get some young people out to the polls to vote for pro-climate candidates when they might have stayed at home otherwise.
And this strategy can serve as a blueprint when it comes to harnessing the youth vote to protect the planet in the future. It bears noting that Virginia politics is a unique ecosystem: the Old Dominion state has notoriously lax campaign finance laws that allow outside groups to work with candidates much more closely than they could elsewhere. However, these ads will serve as an important test case for the climate action movement in the 2024 election year and beyond
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 12,200 public Facebook posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 685,000 interactions.
This week on Facebook was a big one for President Biden and his American Climate Corps. Two posts about the Corps from the White House – including one that touted that 42,000 young Americans had already expressed interest in joining it – were amongst the top-performing posts.
President Biden also posted about the American Climate Corps from his own account. He shared a video of a phone call he had with Diana, a young climate activist from Atlanta, GA, who signed up for the Corps. It’s a really great video, and you can check it out here >>>
And finally, Fox News made an attempt to revive the outrage over claims that Democrats were trying to take away people’s stoves.
Here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 10,000 public Instagram feed posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 5.1 million interactions.
The top three climate-related posts on Instagram this past week (in order) came from @rap, @complex, and @wealth, all about the alleged zombie viruses that are frozen in melting permafrost.
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>>
Climate Power is planning to spend $80 million on ads promoting President Biden’s climate agenda (CNN, 10/16)
Google’s AI lab, DeepMind, wants to use artificial intelligence to solve climate change (WIRED, 10/18)
A new study found that strategies and tactics used by Indigenous communities are the best way to tackle ecological restoration (Grist, 10/12)
Here’s what young people have to say about their role in the fight against climate change (NYT, 10/12)
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