Climate Monitor: May 20th
Conservationist coalition pushing Pebble Mine to its grave and IEA releases bombshell pathway to net-zero with no new fossil fuel projects
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: Volvo, API, Exxon, NRDC, Ameren
Below are the top 25 spenders on climate-related Facebook ads last week.
Top social media posts: Right-wing media makes goes after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm after the Colonial Pipeline shutdown
This past week, right-wing online pundits latched onto remarks by Granholm amidst the Colonial Pipeline shutdown, implying that her assessment that “if you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you, clearly,” was condescending to Americans who may not yet be able to get an electric vehicle. Meanwhile, climate groups used Mother’s Day to celebrate Mother Earth.
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 (quick housekeeping note: we cut Greenpeace International from our list due to their exceptionally large IG following)
Pipeline Shutdown Delivers Explosion of Misinformation
Starting this week, analysts at triplecheck will share insights from the climate misinformation they pick up online. For their first analysis, they look at the spread of misinformation and disinformation surrounding the Biden administration’s approach to America’s massive oil and gas pipelines:
“Misinformation related to the Colonial Pipeline shutdown and the resulting gas shortages ran rampant last week, with more than 5 million human users exposed to misinformation on this topic on just one day (May 12) alone. Misinformation on the pipeline shutdown ran along two main tracks: the idea that the pipeline shutdown was intentional and last week’s gas shortages provided a “preview” of the impacts of the Green New Deal; and that the Biden Administration’s decision to cancel the permits for the Keystone XL pipeline led to the gas shortages on the East Coast.”
The one-sided online push to stop Pebble Mine for good
For the better part of two decades, the Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. has been trying to get at the copper and other rare minerals in southwest Alaska, a site now known as Pebble Mine. The Trump administration brought the potentially catastrophic project closer to fruition, but it was ultimately stalled. Now, Indigenous and environmental groups are pushing the Biden administration to finally put a stake through the heart of Pebble Mine and permanently preserve Bristol Bay for future generations.
When it comes to lobbying the public on the issue online, Indigenous and environmental groups practically have the playing field to themselves. All the parties interested in stopping Pebble Mine have organized under a coalition aptly named Stop Pebble Mine, which has spent $37,498 on Facebook ads since May of 2018.
Online reactions to the IEA’s bombshell roadmap to a net-zero 2050
On Tuesday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency released a roadmap to net-zero emissions worldwide by 2050 that, for the first time, called for no new fossil fuel extraction projects. We looked at the top 100 Facebook posts about the report and found that plenty of media outlets big and small picked up the story, Democratic lawmakers and pro-climate action groups lauded the report, while only a handful of right-wing pages commented at all.
We should note that while high-profile politicians, news outlets, and conservation and energy groups picked up on the story - including NPR, Al Gore, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and the Sierra Club - this level of engagement is very low.
Some weekend reading
Global Warming’s Six Americas: a review and recommendations for climate change communication
Researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication published a free article this week in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences that argues that “segments the U.S. public into six distinct audiences who each respond differently to the issue of climate change.”
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 ClimateMonitor@DCC.org.