Shell continues to gaslight with “Net-Zero” docuseries
Also inside: Conservative pages rail against electric vehicles
Welcome to Climate Monitor, a weekly digest of the digital strategies polluters and pro-Climate groups are using 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. Here’s what we found:
Toplines:
Major oil and gas industry lobbies like the American Chemistry Council and American Petroleum Insitute continued to spend big on Facebook ads last week
Gas giant Shell is running Facebook ads promoting new episodes of its Net Zero docu-series, which mainly consists of corporate buzzwords and a whole lot of gaslighting
In the Georgia Runoff election, pro-Climate groups including LCV Victory Fund and Patagonia continue to run advertising to get-out-the-vote
Organic social media engagement about climate and energy issues was down last week, but a handful of conservative posts about electric vehicles and liberal hypocrisy got some traction
Facebook + Instagram Advertising
Here were the top 20 climate and energy-related advertisers on Facebook and Instagram last week:
Just like last week, the plastics and petroleum lobbies were the top climate or energy-related advertisers on Meta’s platforms. Gas giant ExxonMobil increased their ad spending to promote “advanced recycling” while competitor Shell is running ads promoting it’s “docu-series” about efforts to reach Net-Zero by 2050. It’s even streaming on Amazon Prime. Prepare to be gaslit, if you haven’t seen it already.
On the side of pro-Climate advertising, the Potential Energy Coalition was the largest spender on Facebook ads through its Science Moms page. The group ran ads trying to build its following on the platform with educational graphics.
At the same time, the League of Conservation Voters spent around $43,000 last week on ads promoting Democrats’ climate law to voters in key 2024 swing states.
Google + YouTube Advertising
Google and YouTube spending from climate and energy-related electoral advertisers was limited last week. As a reminder, Google only archives ad spending that mentions a candidate by name:
North Carolina climate group NC WARN spent nearly $25,000 on Google display ads last week asking Gov. Roy Cooper to stand up to energy giant Duke Energy, while LCV Victory fund ran a smattering of YouTube ads in the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff.
Snapchat Advertising
According to Snapchat’s ad library, there were only a handful of new climate-related ad campaigns on the platform in the past week. Here’s a snapshot of climate and energy-related Snapchat advertising in 2022:
One new and notable Snapchat ad campaign came from Patagonia, which launched this video ad in Georgia, urging young voters in the Atlanta metro area to vote next Tuesday:
Trending on Social Media
How are climate and energy issues being discussed by Americans on social media?
Here were the top-performing public posts (by # of interactions) related to climate and energy on Facebook last week:
Overall, engagement on Facebook posts about climate and energy issues was way down last week - likely due to a number of factors, including the midterms being behind us, and the Thanksgiving holiday.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson’s daily post mentioning climate-related terms in passing was once again the most engaged post in this category, followed by an innocuous but positive post about electric vehicles.
On the right, however, conservative personalities and pages continued to rage against electric vehicles and “liberal hypocrisy.” Right-wing newsman John Stossel shared an entire segment that received modest engagement, and Turning Point USA shared a post implying that global warming is a hoax. Facebook did kind of fact-check that post by putting a little box that allows users to check the seasonal average temperature in their area.
The attacks on electric vehicles are notable, as we’ve mostly seen this narrative spread in the wake of Democrats’ massive climate legislation passing earlier this year. Conservative media, pundits and organizations have tried to brand electric vehicles as unreliable, expensive, and actually worse for the environment than regular gas guzzlers. Here’s an example from the right-leaning Washington Examiner this week.
Meanwhile, on Instagram, here were the top-performing feed posts (excludes Reels & stories) related to climate and energy last week:
The most engaged pro-climate Instagram post last week came from Bosch Global, which shared content about combatting climate-caused desertification in West Africa.
Meanwhile, the top-performing anti-Climate posts last week came from Billy Carson, FOX News, and Dan Crenshaw. They again focused on narratives of liberal hypocrisy around climate change and Democrats' supposed refusal to produce energy in America.
Weekly Reading
Influential Right-Wing Group Gave $20 Million to Climate Deniers & Over $16 Million to Anti-Conservation Groups (Accountable US, 11/21)
The fossil fuel industry’s deceptive campaign to kill offshore wind (Heated, 11/29)
With Federal Aid on the Table, Utilities Shift to Embrace Climate Goals (New York Times, 11/29)
Climate Change Should Have Dominated the Midterms. It Didn’t. (The Nation, 11/25)
That’s it for this week! If you enjoyed reading this issue, give it a share on Twitter!
Climate Monitor is a product of the Digital Climate Coalition + FWIW Media. Tips/comments/questions? Email kyle@fwiwmedia.com