Americas biggest oil and gas lobby group is ramping up its advertising spending ahead of the November election to persuade voters that natural gas is a climate-friendly fuel, according to ad buying data.
The campaign by the American Petroleum Institute , targeted at younger voters and some tight congressional races, is part of a global battle by the drilling industry to assuage growing fears over the role of natural gas in driving climate change.
Bidens plan would support climate litigation against polluters who conceal information about environmental and health risks.
Thats about six times its average daily spending in the preceding six months, according to an analysis by InfluenceMap, a non-profit group whose data on lobbying is used by institutional investors.
Those ads mainly target a younger audience including 25-to-34-year-olds, according to a separate analysis by Bully Pulpit Interactive Media conducted on behalf of Reuters.
For at least six months, the campaigns website cast natural gas as a clean fuel before that description was revised to cleaner on the site sometime in the last two months.
In addition, they say, a significant amount of methane, a far more potent short-term warming agent, leaks during production of natural gas.Republican and Democratic politicians alike once saw natural gas as a bridge fuel to a low-carbon future, but some states, cities and towns have increasingly moved to phase out natural gas power generation or ban its use in new homes and buildings.
Clare Richards, senior engagement manager for the Church of England Pensions Board, said omitting the full truth about natural gas is tantamount to false advertising.
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