Fossil fuel companies: it’s the children who are wrong…
The oil and gas industry is worried about young people. As reported in the AFR last month, the APPEA Conference (see our previous post here) heard several CEOs voice their concerns about the lack of support for the oil and gas industry from young people. APPEA director and CEO of Senex Energy, Ian Davies, warned his colleagues:
“Young people increasingly don’t believe fossil fuels are part of their future… Coal, and the Adani project in particular, have lately been the more prominent target but the wild-eyed attention will return to our industry.”
Peter Bennett, CEO of mining services company Clough, agreed:
“…the world at large — and especially the younger generation — doesn’t see the oil and gas industry as part of the solution” to lowering emissions — “they see us as a problem.”
Davies and Bennett are spot on. The vast majority of Australians believe the climate is changing, and want decisive action — young people particularly. The coal, oil and gas industries are quickly losing their social licence to operate. One of the core, non-negotiable demands of the school climate strikers is for ‘no new coal, oil and gas projects’. The March climate strikes were huge, optimistic, and defiant. Another strike has been called for September. The mining industry is by the way, according to the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), struggling to attract young workers — ‘tertiary enrolments for mining engineering students have been in decline for six years’.
You don’t need to be a genius to see which way the wind is blowing. And so the oil and gas industry is responding with as much greenwashing, PR and lobbying as it can manage. Lately, they have directed their efforts at young people — enlisting D-grade celebrities, funding school ‘science’ programs, collaborating with local sports teams and even putting their logos on Nippers caps.
While this type of lobbying is nothing new — Hector the friendly looking cartoon piece of coal, a creation of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, has been giving children advice on healthy snacks, bike safety, artistic expression and making new friends for years — it seems to have increased recently.
We’ve collated a brief list of all the various sponsorships and social media campaigns that fossil fuel companies and their lobby groups are currently funding, in order to normalise the ongoing use of coal, oil and gas amongst young people. By no means is this a complete list — there are literally hundreds of examples out there. If you see any *really bad* examples that you think we should know about, get in touch!
Here is what the companies fund…
In recent months, Adani has been on a PR blitz in North Queensland. From pro-Adani rallies to sponsoring the North Queensland Cowboys’ visits to public schools.
Like Adani, gas company Arrow Energy has long favoured the NRL, sponsoring the Brisbane Broncos and its visits to public schools around the gasfields of the Surat Basin.
In 2018, BHP flooded social media with its ‘Think Big’ campaign. While not specifically about fossil fuels, it does have the warm and fuzzy feel.
BHP also makes a big deal about “helping preserve our greatest natural wonder” — the Great Barrier Reef. Despite extracting millions of tonnes of coal every year, BHP wants you to believe its sponsorship of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is the real deal (other corporate partners include Rio Tinto and Orica). The Reef Foundation once partnered with Disney ‘to provide educators and consumers with Finding Dory-themed educational materials and activity guides to help raise awareness of the decline of the reef’.
Chevron has sponsored the Perth Festival since 2013, which claims to “celebrate the power of human energy”.
ExxonMobil has sponsored Opera Australia for many years. And when Opera Australia takes its show on the road to schools around the country, ExxonMobil and local subsidiary Esso branding is quite literally, centre stage.
As part of Origin Energy’s ‘Good Energy’ campaign, since 2014 they have held an invention-making competition for primary school kids between years 3 and 8, called ‘Little Big Idea’.
Santos has sponsored the Tour Down Under cycling race for as long as anyone can remember. Just look at the branding behind 2019 winner Daryl Impey.
During this year’s race, Santos also ran a cooking show called, yep, ‘Cooking with gas’ with South Australian chef Simon Bryant. Bryant explains, “Santos, who support the Tour Down Under, have engaged me to cook with gas for the week”.
Woodside are also big on the school workshops. In perhaps one of the worst examples of subliminal messaging we’ve seen, Woodside recently sent staff to Sorrento Public School in Perth, and got kids to make a ‘Reservoir Sandwich’ using Vegemite, sprinkles and m&ms. No joke.
Woodside’s $5 million sponsorship of Surf Life Saving WA, ensures that little Nippers in Western Australia are now called ‘Woodside Nippers’. Every Nippers kid at one of WA’s 31 surf life saving clubs will also get a new Woodside Nippers uniform.
An old hand at industry PR for children, Shell have been sponsoring Canberra’s Questacon science museum, and running the Shell Questacon Science Circus for 30 years (now touring!). They’ve also made use of Steve Aoki, the 2012 Young Australian Of The Year (for the Shell EcoMarathon), and are recent sponsors of the Jandowae Jackaroos Junior Rugby League Club.
Here is what the industry associations fund…
In late 2018, the oil and gas lobby APPEA began funding a social media campaign called Brighter with gas. It has a website, and Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Brighter produces a cooking show called ‘The Chefs Secret’, with multiple episodes and recipes. In his steak tutorial, Chef Adrian Richardson explains ‘you can see I’m cooking with gas, and I just love using gas’. The show recently toured SA (more cooking with natural gas).
Again on the education theme, Brighter also sponsored the recent Science Alive interactive science show for kids in Geelong. Brighter were kind enough to put on a free professional development seminar for teachers, featuring a short presentation from ‘education provider’ APPEA (which funds Brighter).
Brighter also partnered with the Australian government to sponsor Superstars of STEM, as Brighter said “recognises the importance of encouraging more young women and girls into STEM-related careers, particularly in the natural gas industry.”
While not as “woke” as Brighter, APPEA also funds Energy Information Australia, which produces informative memes on how essential oil and gas are to our lives.
While the Minerals Council of Australia’s campaigns are little more subtle these days than the heady days of its Australians For Coal campaign in 2014, and its Little Black Rock campaign in 2015–16. These days, the MCA wants you to believe that there is “More to Mining”, through a very ‘Marlboro Man’ looking campaign that has garnered more than 1.5m views on YouTube.
Like Adani and Arrow Energy, the NSW Minerals Council also sponsor an NRL team — the Newcastle Knights, which hosts the annual Newcastle Knights Voice for Mining Family Day. That must be important in the Hunter. The NSWMC also fund ‘Oresome Resources’, which ‘provides free educational resources and teacher professional development to assist the teaching and learning of minerals and energy’ in geography, maths, science and social science, along with a handful of other industry associations in various states.
Last but never least, the Queensland Resources Council is sponsoring the ‘Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy’, which is holding ‘STEM4SchoolKids’ events in 60 Queensland schools. The workshops are led by ‘industry professionals’ from QRC member companies: Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, Glencore and Rio Tinto.
This list barely scratches the surface of fossil fuel PR in Australia.
Know something? Please feel free to send us your lobbywatch tips at lobbywatch@accr.org.au.
