Coal and gas giants spend tens of millions on school and kids' sport programs

Coal and gas giants spending tens of millions on programs in schools and children's sport Mon 29 Jun 2026 at 5:03am In short: A new report has identified a network of more than 260 coal, oil and gas-sponsored programs in childhood settings. Comms Direct says it paints a picture of an "extensive industry presence" in schools and children's sport, including direct teaching by mining companies and partners in some instances. What's next? Greens and independent senators say questions over whether more transparency and guardrails for industry-sponsored education should be examined through a senate inquiry. Coal, oil and gas companies are spending tens of millions of dollars on programs in childhood settings, with a new report revealing the scale of investments by the resources industry to lift its brand and influence. A network of more than 260 teaching programs, children's sport club sponsorships, partnerships with educational institutions and more has been funded by Santos, Shell, Chevron, BHP and other mining companies, climate advocacy group Comms Declare has identified. Researchers found more than $50 million had been spent by mining companies in just six of those programs, suggesting far more is being spent by the industry across school and youth institutions. While some are branding deals, such as Woodside Nippers in WA, others are years-long partnerships, like Queensland Museum's climate education program supported by Shell QGC, multi-day camps or mining site tours, or teaching training courses. Many of those programs have helped to drive jobs for young people, particularly in regional areas, and prop up community organisations struggling for funding. Governments also expect the highly profitable sector to reinvest in the communities that it operates. But the report says there are no dedicated oversight mechanisms for industry partnerships in childhood settings, few disclosure requirements for sponsorship arrangements involving schools and in some cases, little governance over how industries engage with children under those partnerships. "A child may recognise that a television commercial is trying to sell them something. They are far less likely to view information provided by a teacher, museum educator, sporting coach or educational institution through the same lens," researchers said. "Viewed individually, many of these programs may appear limited in scope. Viewed collectively, they reveal an extensive industry presence across the environments in which children learn, play and grow." Lesson plans provided by mining industry The report also raises questions over the quality of education available through some of the teaching resources offered to classrooms. "Some educational programs and materials reviewed for this report presented climate impacts while giving limited attention to the role of fossil fuel production in driving those impacts," researchers said. "In several cases, climate change was framed primarily through adaptation, technological responses or individual behaviour." Comms Declare pointed to Woodside-supported teaching materials as one example. The researchers cite a Woodside Australian Science Project (WASP) resource that says "while we often think that greenhouse gas emissions are only from industrial activities, we all contribute to the global carbon footprint", which then guides children "at length" to consider their contribution to global warming by how they get to school, without mentioning that CO2 emissions are primarily driven by the use of coal, oil and gas. A 2021 corporate report by Woodside said its WASP project had reached 12,300 children "in-classroom" and provided professional development to thousands of teachers, and said of the early-career educators it had engaged, "100 per cent of pre-service teachers intend to use WASP resources in their classroom". Woodside told the ABC it did not provide content for the education programs it helps to fund, and the specific content was a matter for the funding recipients that delivered those programs. In Queensland, a program called Oresome Resources, supported by the Queensland Resources Council, offers to "take the pressure off lesson planning" with material provided through its education arm, the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy. The council says Oresome Resources recorded more than 43,500 users this financial year, and all its workshops align with the Australian curriculum and are developed by educators with a science education background, and that the site's lessons are regularly reviewed and updated. Some of the materials, however, appear not to have been updated since 2010. The site acknowledges some materials provide a "point of view of the minerals and energy sector", such as a PowerPoint presentation on the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources that describes solar power as "not reliable" because it is not always sunny and the "cost of power is high", while saying one advantage of solar is its "limited CO2 emissions". Coal, the presentation says, provides "income from exports" and is a "source of cheap, reliable electricity", while noting it emits air pollutants such as carbon dioxide and uses large amounts of water. Queensland Resources Council chief executive Janette Hewson said the minerals and energy academy was a partnership between the state government and industry that was highly regarded, and funded by successive governments over its 20-year history. The academy says students at schools it has partnered with are three times more likely to pursue an apprenticeship in mining, and also more likely to pursue study in engineering or related fields at university. A previous report by Comms Direct in 2025 identified a Queensland Museum program supported by Shell QGC that encouraged students to design their own carbon capture and storage technology, which was removed for review following that report. Demand for senate inquiry Greens early childhood spokesperson Steph Hodgins-May said resources companies were spending money in order to exert influence. "I can't imagine if my son came home from school, or my daughter said they had been dressed up in a Santos T-shirt and were learning about oil from a corporation who, you know, makes billions of dollars off Australia's resources, pays very little tax and is frankly in there to build their social licence," Senator Hodgins-May said. "Profits are their bottom line. If they are spending money on a program, they need to be able to demonstrate to their shareholders that there is a return on that — and I don't blame the corporations, they are going to do what they can do to make money, but I blame the government. "I find it extraordinary that there has been no oversight over this for so long; we think it urgently demands a Senate inquiry." Comms Declare said many of the sponsorship arrangements it reviewed provided genuine and valuable services within under-resourced communities. But the researchers said the partnerships raised broader questions about whether existing transparency and accountability mechanisms were sufficient. A 2020 review of school banking programs by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, prompted by revelations that Commonwealth Bank staff had fraudulently activated children's Dollarmites accounts to meet sales targets, found young children were "vulnerable consumers" being exposed to sophisticated marketing tactics. Its rulings resulted in some banking programs being removed from schools. Independent senator David Pocock said vested interests should not be trusted to provide education without oversight. "These are companies that have a track record of trying to shape the public understanding of climate change, of trying to shape the public debate around climate change," Senator Pocock said. "We don't allow tobacco companies to go into schools and teach about respiratory health, or whatever it might be. This is something we have got to be looking at. "They engage in children's education and all these programs to try and shape what young people are learning and understand about the gas industry and fossil fuels in Australia." The senator added that schools should be properly funded to provide education themselves, rather than having to rely on industry to step in.