Across Philadelphia, dozens of silver-haired, climate-conscious campaigners have gone door to door in recent weeks Election Dayleaving green slips of paper with guides on how to register to vote this year.

“It’s the most consequential thing I’ve been a part of,” climate researcher Daniel Carlson told CBS News. “I’ve been voting for forty years.”

Carlson is part of Third Act, a climate activist group for people over 60. The group is trying to mobilize voters on climate change in an election dominated by concerns about the economy, immigration and access to abortion.

CBS News polls have shown that climate change is “not a factor” for 32% of voters in the presidential race, but for millions it is their top issue, according to the Environmental Voter Project, another nonprofit; EVP works to identify climate-conscious voters and get them to the polls. EVP targets low-propensity climate voters – those who did not vote in the last presidential election and are concerned about climate change.

Nathaniel Sinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, said, “In Pennsylvania we have identified 245,000 of these voters,” Sinnett told CBS News, and he has found similarly high numbers in other key battleground states where EVP is active. In 2020, Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump is increasing Pennsylvania amounted to 80,555.

EVP says it uses predictive modeling and data analytics to identify millions of climate-focused registered voters, and then relies on voter files to focus its efforts on environmentalists who are registered to vote but who have not voted.

“We really like what we’re seeing in early voting. Nearly 130,000 climate voters have already cast ballots for the first time across the 19 states we serve,” Sinnett said.

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By Tracy Wholf and Seiji Yamashita