Climate Monitor: May 13th
Online fights over clean energy legislation in IL and Line 3 in MN heating up
Welcome to Climate Monitor, your weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies that polluters and climate-action groups are deploying online to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Google by over a dozen groups and corporations from the past week, as well as their activities on social media.
Here’s what we found:
Best performing Facebook post from DCC members: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Top ad spenders: API, ExxonMobil, Volvo, NRDC, and Potential Energy
Below are the top 25 spenders on climate-related Facebook ads last week.
Top social media posts: Biden administration’s plan for 30x30 lifts social posts about the plan from climate groups
This past week, climate groups like Greenpeace USA, NRDC, and Climate Reality took a victory lap on Facebook after the Biden Administration released a plan - albeit a vague one - to get America to their goal of conserving 30 percent of our land and waters by 2030.
Here are the top 10 posts from climate and polluter groups on Facebook last week and the # of interactions each post got:
Here are the top 10 posts from climate and polluter groups on Instagram last week and the # of interactions each post got:
The online fight over Illinois’ energy future
So far this year, national and local groups have spent over $300,000 on Facebook ads in the state in efforts to shift public opinion on clean energy- spending that has accelerated in the past month.
Of the Facebook ad spending from the past month, nearly half of it has gone toward ads that seek to lobby for or against the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which would put Illinois on track for 100 percent clean energy by 2050. The biggest spender in this particular fight has been utility company Ameren, which has been spending aggressively on the platform against the legislation under the page “DownState Energy”, arguing that it would mean higher energy costs for consumers in downstate Illinois and reduced benefits for energy plant workers.
Here’s how the recent spending on Facebook ads targeting Illinois breaks down:
The online fight over Line 3 in Minnesota
While climate groups and Native communities in Minnesota are fighting fiercely on the ground to stop the construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 in their state, proponents of the pipeline have spent nearly $100,000 on Facebook ads promoting it. And they’re not alone - the American Petroleum Institute, the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, and ExxonMobil have also been targeting Minnesotans with pro-fossil fuel ads for months.
Here’s how spending among climate groups and polluters on Facebook ads so far this year breaks down:
Some weekend reading
Study: Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications
An article published today in “One Earth” found empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that “ExxonMobil's public climate change messaging mimics tobacco industry propaganda.” You can read + download the study for free here.
Higher Ground Lab’s 2020 Political Landscape Report
Every year since its founding, progressive tech incubator Higher Ground Labs has released an extensive report on the vendors and organizations within the progressive tech ecosystem. You can read + download this year’s report here.
That’s it for Climate Monitor this week. As always, log in to climatemonitor.substack.com to see these updates in real time as we publish them throughout the week!
And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line by shooting an email to nickseymour42@gmail.com.