Shell is spending tons of $$$ online to try and change their rep
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:
Shell really, really wants people to know that it’s creating “jobs” and “stable, secure energy” in the US
Outdoor recreation giant REI is pushing for Congress to pass the Outdoors for All Act
The online debate over greenhouse gas emission legislation is heating up in California
Some Northern cities want to be known as “climate havens,” but experts are saying there’s no such thing
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 last week were the oil giant Shell, the American Chemistry Council (AKA the plastics lobby), and the American Petroleum Institute. This dynamic has persisted for weeks. Shell, one of the largest global oil and gas companies (and a massive polluter here in the US), is notably focusing its ads on how it creates “jobs” and “stable, secure energy.”
Another notable ad campaign comes from REI which is back amongst the top climate-related ad spenders this week. They are running Facebook and Instagram ads across the nation that ask people to take action with them and call on Congress to pass the Outdoors for All Act.
And yet another new ad campaign comes from Energy Boom, which seems to be affiliated with Womxn From the Mountain, a Womxn-led Indigenous non-profit that works on climate and community issues. They are running ads on Instagram in Colorado that call for polluters to be held accountable in the Centennial State.
Longtime environmental powerhouse Greenpeace is also running a new ad this week. The ad features a video that attacks corporations for polluting oceans and asks for donations to fight back. It is running on Facebook and Instagram and mostly targets California and New York. Check it out here >>>
And speaking of California, two CA-focused groups are running new ads in the Golden State. The first is California Environmental Voters, which is running ads on Facebook and Instagram across California asking people to vote yes on SB 253, which would require companies to disclose their emissions.
The second group is the California Climate Accountability Project, which is up with ads on Instagram and Facebook across California also on SB 253, as well as SB 261, which would amend the Health and Safety Code in relation to greenhouse gas emissions.
Google & YouTube 🎞️
In terms of new and noteworthy climate or energy advertisers archived by Google last week, Clean Jobs for Michigan ($3,100) is running illustrated video ads that ask Michiganders to call their state senators and thank them for promoting green energy.
Snapchat 🤳
There were no new and noteworthy climate or energy advertisers on Snapchat last week.
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 11,100 public Facebook posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 754,800 interactions.
This week, on the left, several major Democratic accounts like Joe Biden (President Biden’s campaign account) and Occupy Democrats posted about President Biden’s ban on drilling in Alaska.
Over on the right, several conservative accounts like Rob Smith and Trending Politics posted videos of Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) yelling at clean energy advocates and experts like the EVP of Invenergy and a Department of Energy official who have recently testified in front of Congress.
And finally, Ben Shapiro made a fuss about two electric vehicles in Florida that caught on fire while caught in the middle of Hurricane Idalia in yet another attempt to put consumers off of them.
Here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 6,600 public Instagram feed posts mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 6.2 million interactions.
The top three climate-related posts on Instagram this past week (in order) came from @gretathunberg about the upcoming #EndFossilFuels strike on September 15th, @greenpeace about the extreme flooding around the world this summer, and @bbcnews about the historic vote in Ecuador to end oil drilling in the Amazon.
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>>
Cities are branding themselves as “climate havens”... but experts say there’s no such thing (The Hill, 9/7)
The case for the role of culture in climate action (Forbes, 9/10)
The US has officially been hit by 23 billion-dollar disasters thus far in 2023 (NOAA, 9/11)
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 lucy@fwiwmedia.com