New ads from a pro-oil coalition are popping up across California
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:
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A group called Californians for Energy Independence is running a new campaign across California to push back against oil taxes and energy bans.
8 Billion Trees wants you to take an AI-based quiz to determine your carbon footprint – and how many trees it would take to offset.
New Snapchat ads from Patagonia take on Big Sugar in Florida.
First, it was gas stoves, then NYC pizza ovens… and now, conservative commentators are railing against the White House’s alleged scheme to take people’s water heaters.
Digital Advertising Roundup
Facebook + Instagram 👍
For starters, here were the top 25 climate and energy-related advertisers on Facebook and Instagram last week:
The top spenders on digital ads in the climate and energy space continue to be oil giant Shell and the American Petroleum Institute, which is the largest trade association for the oil and natural gas industry.
A new and notable climate-related ad campaign this week comes from a group called Californians for Energy Independence, a CA-based coalition that pushes back against oil taxes and energy bans in the state. They are running ads on Facebook and Instagram across California, emphasizing the alleged consequences of shutting down gas and oil production.
In another notable new campaign, the carbon offset company 8 Billion Trees is getting in on the AI boom. They are running ads nationwide on Facebook and Instagram that feature a link to an AI-based quiz that shows you your carbon footprint and how many new trees need to offset it.
Sierra Club is taking on Big Oil and naming names in several new ad campaigns running nationwide on Facebook and Instagram. The ads call out massive oil companies like Exxon Mobil (who is also a top advertiser in the climate space 👀) and Dow Chemical urging people to call on Congress to pass the Break Free from Pollution Act.
After running new ads for his Breakthrough Energy network last week, Bill Gates is back with another new climate-related ad campaign. This week, he is running ads mostly on Facebook nationwide, telling people to sign up for his blog, Gates Notes, to stay up-to-date with climate-related news. A cursory glance at the website shows that most of the posts are strangely not actually about climate…
And finally, National Geographic, which is new to the top spenders list in the climate-related ad space, is putting money behind a new fundraising campaign running nationwide on Facebook and Instagram featuring calls to protect threatened species.
Google & YouTube 🎞️
We found one new and noteworthy climate or energy advertiser archived by Google last week: the Resources Legacy Fund ($1,300), which is running ads featuring “outdoor voters” calling on President Biden to establish more national monuments in the West.
Snapchat 🤳
There was one new climate-related ad on Snapchat this week from Patagonia. On behalf of Friends of the Everglades, the ad urges people to call their Congressman and tell them to take on Big Sugar in the new Farm Bill.
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 10 top-performing public posts (by # of interactions) related to climate and energy on Facebook last week:
Last week, over 13,300 public Facebook posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 933,100 interactions.
This week, the top trending climate-related post on Facebook – by far and away – featured an article from ABC News that discussed the challenges and lack of infrastructure that EV owners face in America.
Also in the top ten most-engaged climate-related Facebook posts last week: Quite a bit of video content from conservative commentators “debunking” climate experts’ statements and generally peddling climate misinformation. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) went after a Tulane professor who studies sustainability, Glenn Beck criticized John Kerry and others for promoting “climate doomsday scenarios,” and Don Bongino claimed that the White House wants to take our water heaters.
And finally, Democratic leaders like President Joe Biden and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich addressed the extreme heat that our nation is facing, which was confirmed to be caused, in some part, by climate change last week.
Here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 6,700 public Instagram feed posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 8.4 million interactions.
The top three climate-related posts came from popular news aggregators @pubity and @daily_loud and each address the record-breaking heat that has swept the globe this summer. A few weeks ago, we took a deep dive into how record-breaking heat waves were changing the climate discourse online.
Video Spotlight: Bill McKibbon breaks down how Big Tech companies can lead on climate in a new ClimateVoice ad.
A new ad from the ClimateVoice “Escape the Chamber” campaign urges pro-climate companies to leave the anti-climate, obstructionist U.S. Chamber of Commerce and lead on climate policy. Watch climate icon Bill McKibben explain the stakes for employees and the planet and sign the petition today!
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>>
Climate change made this summer hotter for 81% of the world’s entire population this year (Axios, 8/2)
Even scientists are surprised about how extreme the weather has been this summer (Washington Post, 7/31)
Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is taking on climate change with a new eco-horror graphic novel (People, 7/28)
In the UK, Big Oil is using influencers to promote the fossil fuel industry – and make it more likable (DeSmog, 7/27)
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