Dem governors get digital ad boost from climate groups
Plus, a look at digital ads supporting sustainability ballot initiatives in CA + NY
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies polluters and climate-action groups use to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on social media platforms, as well as what’s trending on social media. Tell your colleagues to subscribe here!
TL;DR:
Nearly half of Meta political ad spending by climate groups last week came from just a handful of groups that are still going big on youth GOTV campaigns, namely Action for the Climate Emergency, Climate Power, Climate Power Action, and LCV Victory Fund.
Advocacy groups big and small are spending tens of thousands of dollars supporting ballot initiatives that would improve local and statewide sustainability efforts, including Prop 1 in NY and an Orange County, CA, pro-transit initiative.
The American Chemistry Council spent $123k last week on digital ads promoting the idea of “advanced recycling.”
Democratic governors Janet Mills in Maine and Michelle Lujan Grisham are getting a boost from local climate groups that are running YouTube ads promoting their respective climate actions while attacking their GOP opponents’ climate denialism.
National Digital Ad Spending on Climate
Facebook + Instagram
First, here are the top 25 spenders nationwide on climate and energy-related ads on Meta platforms from last week:
Last week, spending from Action for the Climate Emergency, Climate Power, Climate Power Action, and LCV Victory Fund combined accounted for nearly two-thirds of Meta ad spending on Facebook and Instagram among pro-climate groups, with each one pushing young voters in battleground states to vote in next month’s midterm elections.
Climate Power is also running new ads promoting the Inflation Reduction Act to Millennial audiences in key states, and Climate Power Action appears to be one of the first climate groups using the IRA to support Democrats running to flip GOP-held seats in CA, OH, NM, NY, and NC. LCV Victory Fund is up with ads attacking Republican Joe O’Dea in CO for wanting to cut taxes for Big Oil to cut public benefits.
On top of having competitive U.S. House races, California and New York are running statewide and local referenda that will impact how sustainable their infrastructure will be for years to come. New York State residents will get to vote on Prop 1, which would enact the Environmental Bond Act and unlock $4.2 billion in funding for pollution reduction, climate mitigation, improved water infrastructure, and land conservation. The Environmental Defense Fund is running bilingual ads supporting the referendum, and the New York Fund for Conservation spent $16k on digital ads highlighting how the bill would help replace the state’s aging water pipes.
Over on the West Coast, digital ad dollars continue to flow into the fight over Prop 30. Most of the ad spending about that is going to YouTube and Google Search ads, but on Facebook, Grow SF PAC is running ads supporting it. Also on the ballot in San Francisco specifically is Prop L, a sales tax that helps fund the city’s infrastructure improvements. A group called Better Roads and Transit, Yes on L has spent $28k on Meta ads supporting the proposition. Finally, Move Orange County Forward is pushing for a resident-approved sales tax that would expand the county’s public transit system and improve pedestrian infrastructure. They’re using their ads to focus on the tax’s bipartisan support, the county’s current congestion woes, and the fact that most of the tax would apply to tourists.
Polluters and their allies only spent half as much on Meta ads as climate groups did last week. The biggest spender among these was the American Chemistry Council, which reached a new weekly spending high of $123k on the platform, primarily on ads promoting the iffy idea of “advanced recycling”. Meanwhile, it looks like the American Petroleum Institute seems to be pulling back on GOTV ads with pro-fossil fuel messaging as it’s halved its spending on the platform from the previous week.
Google + YouTube
Last week, two groups started running YouTube ads in two governor’s races that haven’t gotten quite as much attention nationally. First is CVNM Verde Voters Fund, which is going to bat for incumbent NM Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, highlighting the historic climate action she’s taken in her first term and, in a separate ad, highlighting her opponent’s climate denialism and connections to fossil fuel groups. We’ll also note that both of these ads primarily target the western half of New Mexico.
On the other side of the country, the Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund is running ads supporting incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who’s fending off a comeback challenge from proto-Trumpist former Gov. Paul LePage. They’re also highlighting Mills’ conservation and clean energy actions, but interestingly their anti-LePage ads, which highlight his climate denialism and opposition to clean energy, exclusively target women in the state.
Overall, here’s how spending on climate- and energy-related ad spending on Google + YouTube last week breaks down:
Snapchat
We didn’t identify any new Snap ad campaigns from pro-climate groups last week, but we did find some relevant ads from Commonwealth Communications. They launched a major GOTV campaign on the platform that also attacks GOP PA gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and his extreme views on climate change and other issues. Of the $58k they’ve spent on this campaign so far, $7.6k has gone toward ads highlighting Mastriano’s climate denialism.
Overall, here’s how much has been spent on climate, clean energy, and conservation ads on Snap so far this year:
Climate & Energy Ads in the 2022 Elections
We identified just a few new digital ad campaigns about climate change and energy from battleground midterm campaigns across the country.
AK-SEN: In a new video ad, Lisa Murkowski stands in front of a wind farm: “I’ve led the charge for an all-of-the-above energy plan, making Alaska a national leader in renewable energy, investing in wind, geothermal, and hydropower, while growing all of Alaska’s energy jobs.”
AK-SEN: GOP Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka in a new ad blames Murkowski for gas prices because “Murkowski voted with Biden to stop our oil production.”
CA-27: Republican incumbent Mike Garcia launched a new video ad claiming that he “demanded Sacramento politicians to reduce the gas tax in California.”
MT-01: Democrat Monica Tranel is boosting a local news story attacking Ryan Zinke’s industry, saying he “opened public lands to commercial exploitation by oil, gas and mining corporations. He still works for those interests.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
API ran ads earlier this month calling on the Biden administration to open the Gulf of Mexico back up to oil and gas drilling, but not in a vacuum. The Southern Environmental Law Center has spent over $20k over the past month on Meta ads primarily targeting the Southeast arguing against new drilling anywhere in the Gulf, arguing that “Gulf communities, especially communities of color, have long borne the brunt of the risky oil and gas industry and should not have to further sacrifice their health, safety, and quality of life.” They’re primarily targeting older users with interests in conservation and clean energy.
What’s trending organically?
Last week, the top Facebook post mentioning climate change, energy, or related terms came from Ben Shapiro, who, like other digital right-wing pundits last week, tried to tie together OPEC’s recent oil production cut and the Biden administration’s strategic response as a political conspiracy theory. President Joe Biden vaguely said there would be “consequences” for OPEC, but Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez took it a step further and called for the U.S. to cease arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Now, Shapiro is likening the situation to Donald Trump’s first impeachment, and other Very Online Republicans, like Sen. Ted Cruz, are singing a similar tune. Other GOPers, such as Sean Hannity and House candidate Max Miller are using the situation to again call for more domestic oil production. We will note, though, that this trend doesn’t seem to be getting that much traction on Facebook; the top 10 right-wing posts about this story got on average just 11k interactions.
We also found that engagement on posts about British Just Stop Oil climate activists’ Van Gogh stunt didn’t seem to get much traction on Facebook either, as the most engaged Facebook post about it came from the meme page LADBible, which mocked their actions; that only got about 16k interactions.
Overall, here’s a breakdown of last week’s most engaged posts mentioning climate, clean energy, conservation, and related terms:
On Instagram, the top post came from CNN Climate, which reported on New Zealand’s move to tax farmers for their livestock’s methane emissions. Otherwise, aside from a couple of one-off cases, the most engaged Instagram content about climate change or related terms followed similar trends we found on Facebook. Breitbart explicitly called the OPEC story “the case to impeach Joe Biden,” and Dan Crenshaw and Fox News both drew negative attention to the Just Stop Oil activists. We also found that Breitbart spun a manufacturing error on the part of electric vehicle startup Rivian to further brand EVs as unsafe.
Overall, here’s how the most engaged content last week 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.
Shakes head.......when are these climate idiots gonna come to grips that climate change is a huge joke put upon us by clowns like trudeau, its all he seems to blather on about.