Comms Declare is calling for state and national action to protect children’s education from fossil fuel industry influence, following revelations that coal miner MACH Energy had plans to “influence curriculum”.
The call follows the High Court battle over MACH Energy’s proposed Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion near Muswellbrook, NSW.
In its own community consultation reports (2025 and 2026) for Mount Pleasant, MACH records plans to continue working with schoolchildren, schools and local TAFE leaders to “discuss possible opportunities to influence curriculum or extra-curricular activities”. This places its curriculum ambitions within its engagement with the communities surrounding the mine.
MACH’s own 2025 publications reveal sponsorships, donations and other engagements involving at least eight Upper Hunter schools. The company also publishes content expressly for children. Its December 2025 newsletter pairs Santa in an excavator with mining “fun facts”. An April 2024 children’s news section combines a counting game with coal information. Neither page discusses the climate impacts of coal.
Belinda Noble, Founder of climate communications charity, Comms Declare said; “You can’t separate the expansion ambitions and the curriculum ambitions of the coal industry – we must stop big companies trying to influence children and communities through education.”
“Federal and State Governments must act now to ensure the integrity of science and climate education.”
NSW’s school sponsorship policy excludes organisations promoting tobacco, alcohol and gambling products, but contains no explicit fossil fuel exclusion. Related procedures require teachers and principals to review and approve external material, and state that study of those issues must not be intended to advance a particular group’s interests.
Comms Declare is seeking disclosure of relevant school agreements, teaching materials and curriculum proposals, an independent review of safeguards, and explicit restrictions on fossil fuel sponsorship in schools.
In August, the NSW Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Net Zero Future recommended that the NSW Government “consider assessing limitations that can be placed on fossil fuel advertising or sponsorship agreements, with particular attention to… educational institutions.”
It follows Comms Declare’s recent report, From Cradle to Career, that found more than 260 fossil fuel-funded programs operating across Australia, reaching children and young people through schools, museums, sporting organisations, universities and other trusted institutions. The report highlights how these sponsorships and partnerships help build the industry’s social licence from an early age.
Earlier this year, the ACT banned fossil fuel sponsorships in schools, and Victoria requires sponsorships to consider climate change.