The Texas clean energy ad wars continue on Facebook
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:
A new wave of pro-clean energy digital ads in Texas are being run by a group called Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation, using language around private property rights and personal freedom to oppose new clean energy permitting rules
We ACT for Environmental Justice, a group focused on reaching low-income communities of color, is running Facebook ads about gas stove emissions targeting major metro areas
In a widely shared Facebook post, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called climate advocates members of a “cult” and pledged to force the federal government to stop measuring any carbon emissions
Pro-environment, pro-climate Instagram feed posts received much more engagement than posts from climate deniers last week
League of Conservation Voters is running new ads on Roku devices in support of stronger federal pollution standards for cars and trucks
Digital Advertising Roundup
Facebook + Instagram 👍
For starters, here were the top 25 climate and energy-related advertisers on Facebook and Instagram last week:
We saw more digital ad spending come to Texas last week, with an organization called Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation running ads in support of clean energy via defending private property rights. It’s an interesting strategy to push back on anti-climate legislation in “red states.”
…and here’s the language the group is using on its petition page:
Also in Texas, the Carbon Neutral Coalition - an organization stacked with fossil fuel industry types on its advisory board, is running a bunch of new ads supporting carbon capture incentives in the state.
A group called Penn Environment is running a new wave of ads in the Pittsburgh area in support of making the city “a national leader in protecting our planet.” The group spent around $4,000 last week on the ads, which promote a “Green Allegheny Issue & Policy Agenda.”
…and We ACT for Environmental Justice, a group focused on organizing low-income people of color on climate issues, began running new Facebook and Instagram ads last week highlighting the health hazards of gas stove emissions. The ads mostly reached people under 50 years old in major metro areas like New York, Boston, Detroit, DC, Philly, and Miami.
Google & YouTube 🎞️
There were no new and noteworthy climate-related campaigns archived by Google last week.
Snapchat 🤳
There were no new and noteworthy climate-related campaigns on Snapchat last week.
Streaming and elsewhere 📺
The League of Conservation Voters ran three new ads on Roku streaming devices last week, urging the Biden administration to consider stronger pollution standards for cars and trucks. Roku does not provide information on how much was spent on the campaign.
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 15 top-performing public posts (by # of interactions) related to climate and energy on Facebook last week:
Last week, over 11,900 public posts on Facebook mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 555,000 interactions.
One of the top-performing posts about climate change came from Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican “anti-woke” personality who is running for president in 2024. His post called climate advocates a “cult” and alleged that the “climate disaster death rate” has declined because of fossil fuels.
A few mainstream news reports advancing pro-climate information received moderately high levels of engagement on Facebook week too. This post from NPR about solar and this one from the New York Times about electric vehicles both performed well.
Meanwhile, here were the top-performing feed posts (excluding Reels and Stories) related to climate and energy on Instagram last week:
Last week, over 5,800 public feed posts on Instagram mentioned climate or energy issues, and they earned a cumulative 4.9 million interactions. Engagement was generally lower than the previous week.
On Instagram, pro-climate posts from @leonardodicaprio, @national_archaeology, and @bbcnews received the most engagement, about endangered species, melting glaciers, and rising temperatures, respectively.
…and on Climate Tiktok this week, a climate skeptic account made fun of the fact that South Africa’s energy crisis and blackouts have caused the country to meet its emissions goals - tying the idea of a “failed state” to a “climate agenda.” Remember, TikTok told us last month that they would remove all content featuring climate denial. The video has received over 300k views in a few days:
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>>
Why we're not calling it "natural gas" anymore (Heated, 5/18)
The next cameo on your favorite TV show could be climate change (Grist, 5/17)
Can giant surveys of scientists fight misinformation about climate change? (Nature, 5/17)
Greenwashing era is over, say ad agencies, as regulators get tough (Guardian, 5/15)
Climate crisis deniers target scientists for vicious abuse on Musk’s Twitter (Guardian, 5/14)
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