Culture wars reach the climate space with “woke” ESG attacks
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:
CATF Action is running new Google ads thanking members of Congress for combatting methane pollution
A dozen conservative groups have run Facebook ads this year attacking corporations for “woke” ESG investments
Sunrise Movement is advertising in El Paso’s local climate fight
Organic engagement on pro-climate Facebook posts skyrocketed last week, as Earth Day, the Green New Deal, and Biden’s EJ announcement drove the conversation
Digital Advertising Roundup
Facebook + Instagram 👍
For starters, here were the top 25 climate and energy-related advertisers on Facebook and Instagram last week:
Spending on climate and energy-related Facebook/Instagram ads was way down last week. The top spending advertiser was Earthjustice, which is running a slew of different ad campaigns pushing for everything from the electrification of the postal service fleet to arctic conservation.
Sunrise Movement also ran new Facebook and Instagram ads last week supporting Proposition K in El Paso, Texas’ municipal elections on May 6th. The local climate initiative would support clean energy jobs, create a local Climate Commission, and more. Learn all about it at elpasoclimate.org>>
Google & YouTube 🎞️
The climate or energy-related political advertisers on Google that were archived last week included: Clean Air Task Force Action ($18,600), League of Conservation Voters ($9,900), Growth Energy ($6,100), Virginia LCV ($1,200),
Most notably, The Clean Air Task Force’s latest wave of Google Display ads thank members of Congress for “protecting communities from methane pollution.”
Snapchat 🤳
There were no new or notable climate-related ad campaigns on Snapchat last week.
Spotlight: “Anti-woke” culture wars reach the climate space
Right-wing activists, organizations, and elected officials have long used hot-button “culture war” issues to rile up their base and generate outrage online and off. Recently, they’ve begun using the concept of “wokeness” in thousands of digital ads and emails to criticize everything from racial justice initiatives to LGBTQ+ rights and social impact investment strategies.
Those “woke” wars have reached the climate space recently, with anti-climate or far-right actors criticizing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) policies in the corporate and financial sectors as “woke.” For those unfamiliar, ESG is essentially a way for the corporate sector to consider and prioritize investments through a lens of their impact on society. It’s a relatively recent trend - as illustrated by Google Search interest in ESG over the past few years:
Naturally, climate deniers and conservative groups aren’t big fans of ESG. Since January, at least twenty-three (23) entities have run digital ads on Facebook opposing and decrying ESG as “woke.”
Those groups include prominent conservative organizations like PragerU, Heritage Action, the Heartland Institute, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Media Research Center, and the Foundation for Government Accountability. The fact that these well-resourced institutional groups are running these ads hints that their messaging has been planned and tested - as opposed to off-the-cuff posts from fringe actors.
The climate movement has made great strides in recent years in getting corporations to consider the social and environmental impacts of their industries. By attacking ESG, the far-right is trying to undermine those gains and scare the corporate sector away from taking any sort of independent, pro-climate actions.
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 15 top-performing public posts (by # of interactions) related to climate and energy on Facebook last week:
Last week, over 22,400 public posts on Facebook mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 1 million interactions.
Good news: Almost every top-performing climate or energy post on Facebook last week shared pro-Climate messaging. This has rarely happened in our two years of tracking engagement on the platform.
Three things came together to generate the pro-climate hype last week. First, it was Earth Day, and a few creators and celebrities like Heather Cox Richardson and Billie Eilish shared their thoughts to mark the occasion.
On top of that, Rep. AOC re-introduced the Green New Deal, which generated a bunch of enthusiasm online, including from Occupy Democrats and Robert Reich.
…And the White House rolled out an executive order on environmental justice, which was even shared by FOX News without any anti-climate commentary.
Meanwhile, here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 9,900 public feed posts on Instagram mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 6.5 million interactions.
Generally, top-performing posts on Instagram were favorable to climate advocacy as well. Many posts focused on light pollution to mark “Dark Sky Week,” and accounts like earthlyeducation and feminist decried misogynistic attacks on female climate activists.
Among climate deniers, Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme that somehow ties public schools, wokeness, white supremacy, and gender issues to climate change - and it generated quite a bit of engagement.
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>>
Tucker Carlson's toxic environmental legacy (Heated, 4/27)
The New Era of Social Media Is Shaking Up Climate Activism. Here’s How. (Atmos, 4/27)
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 kyle@fwiwmedia.com