A new survey by communications collective, Comms Declare and peak environment body, Conservation Council ACT, has revealed increased parental concerns over fossil fuel companies’ involvement in schools.
With students across the country returning to school in recent weeks, the new data indicates growing demand for a pollution-free education. More than half (56 per cent) of parents support demands for an Australian-first restriction in the ACT on coal, oil and gas companies advertising or sponsoring activities and programs for their children.
The ACT’s Education Department is set to review the Territory’s School Sponsorship Policy, providing the rare opportunity for the government to draw a line in the sand and back a clean energy education for more than 80,000 students.
Push for a cleaner educational environment
Comms Declare represents more than 100 organisations and hundreds more communications professionals who have declared they will not promote:
- the growth of fossil fuels
- high greenhouse gas pollution as ‘business as usual’
- deception, distraction or spin around science or climate actions.
The Conservation Council ACT Region (Council) is the leading environmental advocacy organisation and hub for community groups in Canberra and says it is driven by a mission is to protect nature and create a safe climate future in the ACT and region.
Both organisations acknowledge that schools are vital to helping prepare students for the future. However, with fossil fuel companies sponsoring more than 60 school programs nationwide, they say many parents and conservation experts believe this is polluting the learning environment by providing one-sided information about climate change and ignoring the benefits of moving to renewable energy sources.
Parents worry about “biased insights” being shared
More than half of parents (55.3 per cent) in the study believe the greatest impact of fossil fuel sponsorship is that it promotes biased insights into energy consumption. Despite their duty of care, schools with these advertising and sponsorship deals have ignored parental fears that partnerships will increase the appeal of fossil fuels to children.
Backed by over three-quarters of ACT parents surveyed (who believe that school programs should be funded more by governments than coal, oil and gas companies), Comms Declare and Conservation Council ACT are calling for fossil fuel companies to be added to the prohibited list of products for ads and sponsorship in ACT schools, in what would be a country-wide first.
“The ACT government has a chance to be a true climate leader here, with the first-ever ban on coal and gas school sponsorships in Australia. They can demonstrate a viable path forward for the rest of the country,” says Simon Copland, Conservation Council ACT Executive Director.
“We’re seeing Australian children lose more years of good health to disease from air pollution than tobacco smoke. There are already preventions on tobacco companies reaching commercial arrangements with schools. Why would we allow the companies doing this kind of harm into supposedly safe spaces for our kids?
“Parents are deeply concerned about the impact these companies can have on their children, and it’s evident we need to be shielding them and showing positive alternatives in the renewable space. There’s a very real opportunity in the ACT to provide a clean energy education for pupils but this is a growing nationwide issue. A ban on fossil fuel advertising in schools is an obvious step in the right direction.”
Comms Declare founder, Belinda Noble agrees.
She says that, in the ACT, “more than 20 local businesses have pledged to be fossil free because they know clean energy is the future”.
“Our children deserve to know that too – and be protected from biased school lessons from corporate sponsors. The Paris Agreement requires signatories to enhance climate change education, and this is an opportunity for the ACT to lead the way with an Australian first.”
With what he describes as “pollution from coal, gas and oil increasing and directly threatening our kids’ health and driving more unnatural weather extremes that also threaten our kids’ wellbeing and education”, Parents for Climate CEO Nic Seton says, “we cannot accept sponsorship and benefits to coal, oil and gas through our school system”.
“As parents, we are concerned that kids are being used for their agenda. We need to keep kids safe from the impacts of coal, oil and gas, pollution and climate impacts driven by those fuels,” Seton says.
“Instead, parents want to see schools supported with clean energy and batteries that give them resilience and independence from the rising costs of coal, oil and gas. Parents for Climate members have told me they are concerned about, and don’t want to see, coal, gas and oil sponsorship in their schools. We wouldn’t accept it from other agendas, we don’t accept it from tobacco, why would we accept it from an industry that needs to stop threatening our kids’ futures?
He says, “it’s time we support our kids for the future instead of holding them back in the past, which we know is not conducive to their health, wellbeing and future prosperity”.
Key findings
The report surveyed 1008 parents from across the country and found that:
- 73 per cent of parents surveyed are concerned that global warming will affect the lives of their children and grandchildren
- 55.3 per cent of parents surveyed believe the greatest impact of fossil fuel sponsorship is that it gives false/one-sided information about energy use and ignores the benefits of moving to renewables.
- 56 per cent of parents would support restrictions on coal, oil and gas companies’ commercial activities in schools, much like there already exists on banking, junk food, tobacco and weapons manufacturers in some states
- 64 per cent of parents would support the government restricting fossil fuel advertising or sponsorships
- 88 per cent of parents in the ACT feel that school programs should be funded more by governments than coal, oil and gas companies
Supporting a pathway toward a healthier planet
With an increasing number of Australians proactively making ethical decisions about their super and other investments, as well as the products they bring into their homes, Copland told EducationDaily that he believes many parents of school-aged children would be surprised at how many resources in their children’s classroom are created by fossil fuel-friendly companies.
“We have had parents get in touch with us after they found out that the petrol company Ampol sponsors an end-of-year award for high school students every year. They were appalled! These parents want a healthy planet for their kids’ future, and that means a future without fossil fuels,” he says.
“We know that fossil fuel companies are not pouring money into schools out of the goodness of their hearts. This is a PR exercise for them to try and salvage their image for the next generation.
“School is a time where kids are learning, and parents and educators don’t want the influence of companies that are actively harming our planet, and kids’ health, within this space. This is about ensuring kids can have an unbiased education. Letting fossil fuel companies into school jeopardises this.”
His main advice for parents and educators who have concerns around this issue is to “write to your school, your Education Department and your Education Minister to tell them you don’t want fossil fuels in your schools”.
“The more pressure people on decision-makers, the more likely it is that they will drop these dodgy sponsorships,” he told EducationDaily.
“You can also join the Fossil Free campaign to help build this pressure. For educators, there are lots of great resources online about climate change – just make sure you go through reputable scientists or organisations, such as the UN or Climate Council.
“The message we want parents to be sending is that they want schools free of the influence of fossil fuels. Schools around the country already ban sponsorships from companies we have deemed too dangerous for kids – tobacco, alcohol, weapons manufacturers, gambling, etc. Fossil fuel companies deserve to be on this list.”
Copland says it’s also important to create conversations with children about what he says are “the realities of climate change”.
“This is a tough topic for kids, as it is about their future. But we also cannot shield them from it. Parents and educators should be honest with their kids but should also support them in taking action to make a difference.”
Schools should deliver “unbiased education”
In a society plagued by fake news, Noble says “it’s more essential than ever that schools deliver unbiased education, free of political or financial interference”.
“We suggest that parents write to their school principal to request that coal, petroleum and gas companies are excluded from providing educational materials and from making commercial arrangements with the school, such as sponsorships or awards,” she told EducationDaily.
She advises that parents who feel angry about their children coming home with tales of lessons filled with materials from fossil fuel companies should remember that “it is not the teacher’s fault”.
“They may point out to the students that fossil fuel companies are biased because they are protecting their huge profits and point them in the direction of trusted sources, such as government websites and the Climate Council,” says Noble.
“Reducing fossil fuel influence will not only reduce climate misinformation but will help communities to find new pathways to prosperity.”
She says parents interested in creating change in their own school community can “let school principals know that fossil fuel corporations are the main cause of the warming climate that jeopardises everything we care about, and that their influence is not acceptable in schools”.
