Fossil fuel industry targeting “Big 4” U.S. Senate races online
Plus, how a pro-Peltola group in Alaska is threading the needle on conservation
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:
GOTV-focused ads from over half a dozen pro-climate groups, including Climate Power Action, NRDC Action Fund, EDF Action, Greenpeace, LCV Victory Fund, and Somos Votantes, made up more than two-thirds of all spending by climate groups on Facebook and Instagram last week.
A new group called Vote Alaska Before Party is supporting Rep. Mary Peltola with digital ads featuring a pro-salmon, pro-fossil fuel message.
The American Petroleum Institute is running new ads agitating for more domestic fossil fuel production in four states with key Senate races and several others with key House races.
The Latino Victory Project has spent over $55k in the past month urging Latina moms in AZ, CO, and NM to vote for climate action in the midterms.
Right-wing Facebook and Instagram pages last week had a field day with Biden’s announcement to release more of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as well as with new tactics from anti-fossil fuel protesters.
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, the biggest spender on Meta political ads among climate groups was Climate Power Action, which spent over $171k, nearly doubling their spending from the previous week.
Their ads (1) urge young voters to turn out and defend the historic climate legislation passed by Congress, (2) use peer pressure to remind them that voting is public record, and (3) promote the IRA’s clean air benefits. NRDC Action Fund, spent $43k on Facebook and Instagram ads last week, nearly tripling their spending on the platform from the previous week. They launched a new campaign targeting Millennials in battleground races that highlights how solar energy investments from the Inflation Reduction Act will save families $1,000 a year.
We also found that more climate groups seem to be going to bat for Democrats and against Republicans in tough U.S. House races. LCV Victory Fund is running ads supporting Democrats in OR-05 and CT-05 while attacking Karoline Leavitt in NH-01. Greenpeace USA is running bilingual ads attacking GOPers in TX-15 and NM-02. Finally, a new group called Vote Alaska Before Party is supporting Rep. Mary Peltola on the grounds that she “She’s fighting out-of-state factory trawler bycatch, and stood up to Biden to expand drilling.” All told, we estimate that GOTV ads from these two groups, along with EDF Action, Protect Our Winters, Somos Votantes, and others, accounted for more than two-thirds of Meta ad spending by climate groups last week.
Among fossil fuel groups and their allies, the biggest spender on Meta political ads last week was pro-plastics group America’s Plastic Makers, which continues to spend huge sums promoting the idea that “advanced recycling” will improve national sustainability and clean energy efforts. Other groups have launched new campaigns targeting states with key midterm races, especially Energy Citizens. They’re targeting folks in AZ, GA, NV, and PA urging them to call their senators to support more domestic drilling, and they appear to be running similar ads in competitive House districts. We also found that the right-wing pro-fossil fuel dark money group The Empowerment Alliance launched a new campaign targeting seniors primarily in FL, OH, PA, and NC alleging that “affordable energy is on the ballot.”
Google + YouTube
Last week, LCV Victory Fund spent a whopping $150k on YouTube ads last week. Like on Meta, they ran some ads supporting Hayes and Salinas in CT and OR respectively, but most of this buy went toward attacking Republican Joe O’Dea in CO-Sen. We also found that while pro-fossil fuel group ClearPath Action Fund is back up with YouTube ads supporting Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a couple of House Republicans, they also ran this extremely vague ad targeting folks in Washington, DC over the age of 24, narrated by a former House Republican, that appears to advocate for continuing domestic fossil fuel production without quite saying so. Check it out:
Overall, here’s how spending on climate- and energy-related ad spending on Google + YouTube last week breaks down:
Snapchat
Spending on Snapchat political ads among climate groups continues to grow, but we only identified one new campaign last week. Wisconsin Conservation Voters has so far spent just over $5k supporting Gov. Tony Evers’ climate justice platform and attacking Tim Michels for his ties to fossil fuel pipelines.
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 several new digital ad campaigns about climate change and energy from battleground midterm campaigns across the country.
CA-45: Democrat Jay Chen is attacking Rep. Michelle Steel’s ties to the fossil fuel industry: “No wonder she voted their way, AGAINST lowering the price of gas and prescription drugs.”
IL-14: Democrat Lauren Underwood launched a new GOTV ad: “There is too much at stake to sit this Election out. Abortion rights are on the ballot. Gun safety and reform are on the ballot. Climate change is on the ballot.”
MI-08: Republican Paul Junge is calling for more fossil fuel production and blaming Rep. Dan Kildee for high gas prices: “Dan Kildee supported a NEW ENERGY TAX that would cause gas prices to rise even higher.”
NC-Sen: Republican Ted Budd blamed Cheri Beasley for higher gas prices: “Cheri Beasley loves the agenda that's destroyed American energy independence. We need to protect American energy and vote for Ted Budd this November 8!”
NH-02: Republican Robert Burns criticizes Rep. Annie Kuster in a straight-to-camera ad: “The cost of electricity, fuel, and home heating oil is out of control because of politicians like Annie Kuster. She’s blocked domestic drilling and pipelines.”
NY-02: Republican Andrew Garbarino is spreading Big Oil talking points: “ALREADY, our families have lost an average of $1,500 each due to Joe Biden’s failed energy policies and taxes. We need American energy independence so we can get these costs down.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
The Latino Victory Project has spent over $55k on a Meta ad campaign in the past month called “Vote Like a Madre.” Featuring big names like Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, and Lin Manuel-Miranda, their bilingual ads target moms in Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado urging them to make a pinky promise to vote for climate progress in the upcoming midterm elections. Some of their ads also cite the Inflation Reduction Act as a way that their votes are already making a difference.
What’s trending organically?
Last week, the top post mentioning climate change, energy, or related terms came from historian Heather Cox Richardson, who discussed the Democrats’ popular agenda, including historic climate action, and the GOP’s plans to take the economy hostage to cut welfare benefits if they take control of Congress. Otherwise, we found that the most common topic in these posts was President Joe Biden’s decision to once again release some of the US Strategic Petroleum Preserve (SPR) into the global market. Unsurprisingly, right-wing pages did not take kindly to that, as SC GOP Chairman Drew McKissick posted a meme of Biden drinking the oil, the Nashville Tea Party likened it to “spending your 401k instead of going to work,” and right-wing talk show host Mark Kaye also criticized the move. His video got 311k views.
We also found that anti-fossil fuel protesters seem to have gotten more attention on social media last week than in the previous week. The online tabloid LADbible made two Facebook posts mocking German Scientist Rebellion activists who glued themselves to a Porsche showroom, getting a total of 35k interactions across both posts.
Overall, here’s a breakdown of last week’s most engaged posts mentioning climate, clean energy, conservation, and related terms:
Both of the top two posts mentioning climate, energy, or related terms on Instagram last week came from Leonardo DiCaprio, who again used his platform to highlight the grim ecological consequences of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Otherwise, like on Facebook, we found that a few more Instagram pages made posts about climate protesters, but none of them came from pro-climate pages. NPR posted about activists literally spilling milk to protest cattle methane production, and so did Newsmax. Additionally, the spiritualist #aesthetic page thirdeyekingdom, which has over 1 million followers, derided the protesters who tossed tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
Finally, we didn’t find as many high-performing Instagram posts criticizing Biden’s decision to release more of the SPR. We found just two posts about it that got over 10k interactions: one from Newsmax and another from realnewsnobullshit. The most engaged right-wing post actually came from Breitbart, which cited a welder to criticize the Biden administration’s energy policies.
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.