Using digital ads to counter Youngkin’s anti-environment administration
Plus, a first look at the digital ad campaign pushing federal lawmakers to pass climate legislation
Welcome to Climate Monitor, your weekly digest of the digital tactics and strategies that polluters and climate-action groups are deploying online to shift public opinion and move legislation. We’ve examined political ad spending on platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Google by several dozen groups and corporations from the past week, as well as their activities on social media. Tell your colleagues to subscribe here!
What we found:
While climate groups increased their spending on Meta political ads by about 25 percent, polluters grew their spending by 50 percent, primarily driven by substantial new investments by ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute.
The Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the Southern Environmental Law Center are among the environmental groups using Facebook and Instagram ads to keep the new Youngkin administration in check.
While some Democratic candidates continue to use climate action to fundraise, Republican candidates have stopped using rising gas prices as an attack line.
John Kerry was a significant target of climate-related misinformation last week, according to the latest analysis from Triplecheck.
National Digital Ad Spending on Climate
Here are the top 25 spenders nationwide on climate and energy-related ads on Meta platforms from last week:
Last week, spending by climate groups on political ads on Meta’s platforms grew by nearly 27 percent from the previous week, primarily thanks to some expanding and a couple new ad campaigns. First, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication launched one of its biggest Facebook ad campaigns to date, spending over $30k last week on mobile-first video PSA ads that bust some of the most pervasive myths about climate change and clean energy, including “Humans are not causing global warming” and “renewable energy is more expensive than fossil fuels.” While they’re not the first climate group to run a campaign like this, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication smartly puts the fact before the myth in these short-and-simple videos, a critical decision when presenting ads to users who are scrolling a mile a minute. Additionally, these ads are primarily targeted at adults under 45 in politically red and purple states in the South and Midwest, including Texas, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, North Carolina, and Ohio.
We’re also seeing some increased investment in Facebook and Instagram ads in Virginia, where the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters are using their digital paid media budgets to counter the Youngkin administration. Starting last week, the former group went on the offensive with a campaign against former coal lobbyist and Trump EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, who Youngkin nominated to serve as the state’s secretary of natural resources. Given Wheeler’s resume, the VA LCV has a lot of material to work with; in their ads, which target Virginians across age and gender demographics, they tie Wheeler to the former president and call him “Youngkin’s extreme pick,” who “worked to dismantle the Clean Power Plan and toxic coal ash cleanup,” and “rolled back Clean Water Act Regulations, putting our drinking water at risk.” At the same time, the SELC has been mostly targeting women in Virginia with ads warning that the benefits from new conservation and clean energy policies - such as jobs, reduced carbon emissions, and the RGGI - are at risk in the new government.
At the same time, we found that spending on Meta’s platforms by polluters increased by nearly 56 percent from the previous week. This huge jump in spending can primarily be attributed to ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute. However, while both of these groups more than doubled their spending on Facebook and Instagram over the past two weeks, they don’t really appear to be running anything particularly new, which indicates to us that they think the ads they’ve been running on and off for months are effective for, if nothing else, collecting emails. While Exxon has been targeting older men in California, New York, Illinois, and Texas with ads promoting the economic “benefits” of oil and natural gas, API has been targeting men nationwide with ads that connect oil and gas with “energy independence” and “keeping us more secure.”
Google + YouTube
Earlier this week, AXIOS reported that Climate Power, EDF Action, the League of Conservation Voters, and NRDC Action Fund are launching a $3 million multimedia ad campaign targeting DC to push Congress to pass climate legislation in weeks leading up to President Biden’s first State of the Union address. The report indicates that these groups will be highlighting the positive impacts of federal climate action and clean energy investment, like in this ad from Climate Power, but we found that Climate Power is also re-launching its “State of Emergency” ad campaign targeting the DC media market. They spent $1,900 on it last week. Check it out:
Snapchat
We noticed a couple new Snap ad campaigns concerning clean energy and conservation over the past two weeks. First, Opportunity for All Floridians ran a campaign targeting adults in Florida’s major metropolitan areas highlighting prospective legislation that would make it harder for homeowners to install rooftop solar: “If you think people in Florida should be encouraged to put solar panels on their roofs, I need you to swipe up and take action because there’s a bill in the Florida Legislature right now that would do the opposite and DISCOURAGE people from putting solar panels up. So swipe up, add your name against the bill, it just takes one minute.” Additionally, Patagonia is once again running various campaigns recruiting Snap users to engage in local environmental advocacy.
Overall, here’s how much has been spent on Snap ads concerning clean energy, conservation, and climate action so far this year:
Climate, clean energy, and conservation ads in this year’s key states
We picked up a few new Facebook ads mentioning climate change, conservation, and/or energy in some of the biggest races Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We also picked up a few pertinent ads from candidates in competitive U.S. House races.
CA-45: Democrat Jay Chen spent around $600 on fundraising ads connecting incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel to Big Oil: “Days before the devastating oil spill in Orange County, my far-right opponent Michelle Steel voted AGAINST funding for disaster relief — which would have helped Orange County. She's also taken MASSIVE campaign checks from oil companies and refuses to stand up to offshore drilling.”
OH-SEN: Last week, Tim Ryan ran a small Facebook ad campaign highlighting the local economic benefits of clean energy manufacturing: “Toledo has a proud history as the Glass City. Now, with companies like First Solar, we have a chance to dominate the clean energy industry and create thousands of good-paying jobs. Our strategy to take on China and fight climate change runs right through Northwest Ohio.”
OR-06: Running in the state’s new congressional district, Democrat and Intel engineer Matt West used Facebook ads to introduce himself as a scientist-cum-leader: “Unlike GOP lawmakers who pull their research from dangerous Facebook posts and far-right conspiracy theorists, Matt West spent his entire career following the science. He’s a renewable scientist and chemical engineer who’s running for Congress to shake up the system and be the voice that science desperately needs right now.”
PA-SEN: Malcolm Kenyatta launched a new fundraising ad campaign that once again puts climate justice at the center of his campaign: “ I know that if lots and lots of people come together and donate we can keep this movement going. I’m certain with your help, we can take our movement for affordable childcare, climate justice, and livable wages to the Senate. So, are you in?”
WI-SEN: Mandela Barnes launched several new fundraising ad campaigns last week, many highlighting the stakes of defeating Ron Johnson: “BREAKING: Mandela is officially in a DEAD HEAT with Ron Johnson in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race. The truth is, everything is riding on this seat – the Senate Democratic majority, abolishing the filibuster, and every issue you care about from voting rights to climate change to health care.”
WI-SEN: Alex Lasry launched a new YouTube campaign introducing himself and his progressive credentials to Wisconsinites: “Democrat Alex Lasry gets it done. Helped build Pfizer Forum on progressive values, wages $15 an hour, materials 80% from Wisconsin, environmentally cutting edge.”
Reaching Frontline Communities
Late last month, the Tribal Community Coordinating Center launched a Facebook ad campaign highlighting an underappreciated source of pollution: tobacco and vape waste. Their video ads, targeted mostly at young adult men in California, use footage of kids finding discarded vape batteries and cartridges on the ground and pushing a simple message: “What are we leaving for our generations ahead? Respect your past, present, and future.”
Tracking Climate Disinfo Online
We’re excited to announce that we’re once again partnering with the amazing team at Triplecheck to bring you regular tracking of misinformation and toxic narratives concerning climate change, clean energy, and conservation. Here’s what they found:
Tracking identified approximately 240 tweets with more than 10 retweets and 60 Facebook posts with more than 10 engagements that contained misinformation or toxic narratives related to the environment from January 24, 2022 through January 30, 2022.
More than 8 million people were exposed to this content on Twitter during the time period reviewed, a decrease from last week’s report, and the content had over 6,600 engagements on Facebook.
Approximately 95 percent of the people exposed to climate-related misinformation or toxic narratives on Twitter were exposed to one of these themes:
Ambassador John Kerry is an elitist and hypocrite when it comes to the actions needed to combat climate change;
Environmentalism is bad for the planet and the economy; and
Combating climate change makes America weaker.
These narratives were also the focus of approximately 25 percent of the Facebook engagements on posts captured by Triplecheck’s tracker. You can find their full report here.
Measuring the National Organic Conversation
The top three Facebook posts mentioning climate change and related terms last week came from Breitbart (70.7k interactions), Heather Cox Richardson (50.5k interactions), and Turning Point USA (24.4k interactions), according to CrowdTangle. FWIW, we’ll be doing our social media listening with that tool for the time being, so our reporting may look a little different from previous issues.
Also performing well on Facebook last week was a post from President Joe Biden that highlighted a $1.1 billion investment in the conservation of the Everglades, which got 18.9k interactions. Ironically, a post from NPR reporting the invalidation of the Biden administration’s oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico did similarly well, getting 17.9k interactions.
The top three Instagram posts mentioning climate change from last week came from Rihanna (469.5k interactions), National Geographic (165.3k interactions), and wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen (152.5k interactions). Complex reported on Rihanna’s foundation’s climate justice investments, and their post got 92.1k interactions. Our readers may also be interested to know that a post from BBC News examining the net impact of the electric vehicle industry on climate change got 1113.k interactions.
That’s it for Climate Monitor this week. As always, head to climatemonitor.substack.com to see these updates in real time as we publish them throughout the week!
And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line by shooting an email to nick@fwiwmedia.com.