Across Philadelphia, dozens of silver-haired, climate-conscious activists have been going door to door in recent weeks election dayand leaves green slips with instructions on how to register to vote this year.

“It's the most consequential thing I've ever been involved in,” climate activist Daniel Carlson told CBS News. “I’ve been voting for four decades.”

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 abortion access.

CBS News Polls have found that climate change is “not a factor” for 32% of voters in the presidential race, but is the most important issue for millions, according to the Environmental Voter Project, another nonprofit group; EPP is working to identify climate-conscious voters and get them to the polls. The EPP is focusing on 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 seen equally high numbers in other key battleground states where the EPP is active. In 2020, Joe Biden's lead over Donald Trump is Pennsylvania was 80,555.

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

“We really like what we’re seeing with early voting. “Nearly 130,000 first-time climate voters have already cast their ballots in the 19 states where we work,” says Sinnett.

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By Tracy Whalf and Seiji Yamashita