Fossil fuel companies are targeting young people in schools, early childhood centres, museums and community organisations to propagandise about the industry, downplaying its role in causing climate change, a new report reveals.

Comms Declare’s From Cradle to Career: Fossil Fuel Industry Presence in Australian Childhood Settings, released in June, is the first national investigation into the scale of fossil fuel industry engagement with children.

The report, based on publicly available information, found at least 260 fossil fuel industry-linked programs and partnerships across Australia. However, it notes that there would be many more programs, given that many sponsorship deals and educational “partnerships” provide little or no public information about the amount of funding, educational content, program reach or extent of industry involvement.

The report found that fossil fuel companies are spending more than $54.5 million across just six programs in schools, educational institutions and “child-centred initiatives”, including classroom resources, lesson plans, educational activities and career pathway programs.

Queensland gas company Shell QGC has provided more than $10 million to museum programs since 2015, which include children’s “educational” initiatives and classroom resources for teachers. But important topics, such as the role of carbon dioxide in ocean acidification, omit the crucial explanation of where carbon dioxide comes from — the burning of fossil fuels.

Its resources talked up the unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) “solution” for mitigating climate change over the phase-out of fossil fuels. The now deleted Shell-branded educational activities on the Queensland Museum website included asking students to “design your........

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