Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
A 37-year partnership between fossil fuel giant Shell and Australia’s national science and technology centre Questacon – which branded and delivered science activities for children – is ending.
Canberra-based Questacon has also confirmed a four-year, $1m sponsorship deal with Japanese oil and gas company Inpex will not be renewed when it runs out at the end of the financial year.
An extra $10m in funding for Questacon in last week’s federal budget was in part designed to cover for the loss of the fossil fuel income from the two partnerships.
Climate campaigners said the removal of Questacon’s two main fossil fuel sponsors was “extremely welcome”.
Shell was a main partner from 1985 to 2020 in the Shell Questacon Science Circus, a program of science shows and teacher training described as the “world’s longest-running science outreach program”.
In 2021 and 2022, Questacon said, its deal with Shell was “refocused and realigned” to build capacity for science, technology, engineering and math in regional areas.
Shell became a lower-tier “supporting partner” in 2021 and gave $500,000 that year and $250,000 this year.
Questacon said in a statement Shell’s funding had “enabled the program to reach more than 2.5 million Australians in more than 600 towns and 100 remote Indigenous communities over this time period”.
Questacon said: “This is the natural conclusion of the partnership arrangement. Questacon and Shell have agreed to exit the partnership as planned in December 2022.”
The $1m from Inpex over four years was “to engage young Australians in conversations about energy, including how energy is used and created, the importance of energy and its role in sustainable development”.
On Inpex, Questacon said: “This is the natural conclusion of the partnership arrangement. There are no planned partnership activities with Inpex beyond 30 June 2023.”
Questacon is a division of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and about half its funding is from government, with the rest coming from partnerships.
The statement added the science circus program would be extended after $10m of new funding was announced in last week’s budget.
Partnerships did not “provide the partnering organisation with control over the content of the work that Questacon produces”, it said.
A spokesperson for Shell said the company had reviewed its “social investment strategy” to support “more activities with direct benefits in communities where we operate”.
The company had “made the decision to exit the Questacon partnership at the end of the year” but would still invest “in supporting young people develop skills in Stem fields which will be crucial for the energy transition, creating stronger career opportunities in our regions”.
Inpex said the company was “proud to be partnering with Questacon to deliver a positive impact in Stem education for students and teachers in Australia and Japan.”
“We believe supporting education helps underpin a cleaner energy future,” a statement added.
Lee Constable, a professional science communicator and former presenter for the Shell Questacon Science Circus, said: “I think [being free of fossil fuel sponsorship] improves the credibility of our national science centre and I would encourage others to consider their fossil fuel sponsorships.”
Community pressure is growing against fossil fuel sponsorships and advertising, with some critics likening it to how the tobacco industry used sport advertising to try to improve its public image, only for those adverts to be banned in many countries.
Belinda Noble, founder of climate group CommsDeclare, said the Questacon move had come after years of effort by environment groups and advocates to remove fossil fuel influence from education.
She said: “There is no place for fossil fuel sponsorships in a society that is serious about tackling greenhouse gas emissions and Questacon should rule out future partnerships from all companies that profit from high-emissions products.
