\u201cThis book gets a lot right. But the idea that fossil fuels are the \u2018new\u2019 kid deserving of sympathy is almost laughable,\u201d said Lindsey Gulden, a former climate and data scientist at U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil who was fired<\/a> in 2020 after internally reporting an allegedly fraudulent overvaluation of the company\u2019s assets in Texas and New Mexico. \u201cFossil fuel companies are working hard to keep their seat at the table and delay a robust energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Entrenched power relations dominated by \u201cvested interests\u201d that \u201ccontrol and benefit from existing technologies\u201d are a key barrier to the energy transition, concluded<\/a> the U.N. climate body Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2023.<\/p>\n Neither the book nor the press release mentions that Baseload Capital is part-owned by oil and gas producer Chevron and fossil fuel services provider Baker Hughes. These partnerships are listed on Baseload Capital\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Chevron and Baker Hughes have promoted<\/a> their investments in Baseload Capital as examples of their commitment to clean energy and reducing their climate impact, despite the vast majority of their businesses still being based on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n Chevron plans to increase oil and gas production up to three percent each year until 2030, the company announced<\/a> on its investor day in November.<\/p>\n Ilievska said the book was \u201can educational story, not a corporate product,\u201d and there was no involvement from Chevron, Baker Hughes, or any other investors.\u00a0\u201cWe share the same end goal as many [climate campaigners], a fast transition away from fossil fuels, and we see better understanding as part of how we get there,\u201d said Ilievska.<\/p>\n But campaigners and industry experts warned that the story of \u2018Fossi\u2019 appears to closely mirror fossil fuel industry narratives<\/a> by playing down the industry\u2019s role in blocking climate action, portraying it as an enthusiastic player in the energy transition, and tackling its image as \u201cthe bad guys\u201d \u2014 in the words of a leaked advertising briefing<\/a> from British oil giant BP, unearthed by Drilled.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be part of the solution and make a difference,\u201d says Fossi at one stage.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this book was a truer metaphor, it would have been a school where the majority of the kids were called \u2018Fossi\u2019, and they had already been there for a very long time, maybe had become the teachers already, were sitting on the board \u2026 because it\u2019s fossil fuels that are maintaining the status quo,\u201d\u00a0said Gustav Martner, creative director at Greenpeace Nordics, who previously worked in corporate advertising and marketing for 17\u00a0years.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is definitely a need to produce books for children about climate change, but it is troubling when you can so clearly read between the lines that the solution being offered is to stop blaming the fossil fuel industry,\u201d Martner added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t help anyone to point fingers,\u201d Ilievska said. \u201cWe know they did wrong, and they have their perspective of what we have done wrong, but we need to find that common ground to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n Baseload Capital CEO Alexander Helling said<\/a> in the book\u2019s press release that its message \u2014 including \u201cshowing how geothermal energy can use knowledge, technology, and experience from the fossil fuel sector\u201d \u2014 is targeted at investors and policymakers as well as children.<\/p>\n Ilievska said the company believed that by partnering with oil and gas companies, Baseload Capital could \u201cbring [the fossil fuel industry] with us\u201d and help speed up the growth of geothermal energy, thanks to their drilling expertise and financial muscle.<\/p>\n Our Hidden Powers: The Big Switch is the second book Baseload Capital has released\u00a0with publishing house Mondial, which also sells titles by well-known cultural figures and journalists in Sweden.<\/p>\n The first, in 2023, taught children about the potential of geothermal energy as a clean and renewable fuel. The book did not include the character \u2018Fossi\u2019.<\/p>\n Chevron and Baker Hughes did not respond to a DeSmog request for comment.<\/p>\n \u2018Non-traditional Allies\u2019<\/p>\n The fossil fuel industry has a long history of targeting children and young people with its messaging.<\/p>\n The\u00a0American Petroleum Institute, America\u2019s largest oil and gas lobby group, sponsored STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workshops with girl scouts in 2017, which it viewed as \u201cnontraditional local allies\u201d, according to internal documents made public by a U.S. congressional investigation in 2024 and analysed by DeSmog<\/a>.\u00a0BP invested millions in STEM programmes throughout the 2010s to \u201cprotect BP\u2019s reputation\u201d, the same batch of documents shows \u2014 programmes that still continue today.<\/p>\n Page 30 of \u201cOur Hidden Powers: The Big Switch,\u201d showing Fossi working with other characters representing renewable energy sources. Credit: Baseload Capital<\/p>\n As awareness of the climate crisis has grown, the fossil industry has increasingly seen these audiences as crucial to its survival, internal marketing documents obtained by DeSmog suggest.<\/p>\n In 2017, Norwegian state-owned oil company Equinor \u2014 \u00a0then known as Statoil \u2014 and its advertising agency TRY noted that \u201can increasing number of people question Statoil\u2019s corporate social responsibility, sustainability, innovation and attractiveness as an employer\u201d and that \u201cthis is especially true amongst the younger generation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYounger voices are taking more prominent space in the energy and climate debate, and people who we consider young today will be the decision-makers, thought-leaders and opinion formers of tomorrow,\u201d the document says. \u201cHence, the need to be more relevant to the next generation was evident \u2014 simply because Statoil\u2019s future will depend on The Young.\u201d<\/p>\n In April 2025, DeSmog revealed<\/a> that Equinor had sponsored\u00a0pop-up science classrooms on a group of Scottish islands at the same time as it sought approval to develop a nearby oilfield called Rosebank.<\/p>\n Equinor also created a video game called \u201cEnergy Town\u201d<\/a> targeted at UK school children. \u201cEnergy Town\u201d aimed to \u201chelp build future talent pipelines and secure permission to operate at a time of sensitivity around fossil fuels, particularly in light of \u2026 the Rosebank development,\u201d according to a web page made by the game\u2019s designers, first reported on by Norwegian outlet E24.<\/p>\n Shell\u2019s gas and coal subsidiary in Australia paid US$7 million to fund children\u2019s educational programs at the Queensland Museum that fail to clearly identify fossil fuels as the primary cause of climate change, a DeSmog investigation<\/a> published in December found.<\/p>\n The industry has also turned to social media influencers to connect with younger generations.<\/p>\n Influencers posted hundreds of times for oil and gas companies around the world between 2017 and 2023, DeSmog\u00a0found<\/a>. One influencer partnership with oil giant Shell made people in their 20s \u201c31 percent more likely to believe\u201d that the oil company is \u201ccommitted to cleaner fuels\u201d, according to a case study written by its PR agency Edelman<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brazil\u2019s state-controlled oil company Petrobras hired \u201ca squad of influencers whose language is aimed at Generation Z,\u201d it said in a\u00a0press release<\/a> announcing its \u201cJust Energy Transition\u201d campaign in June 2025. The squad<\/a> included nature content creator Mylly Biologando, who made videos about visits to a Petrobras algae-fuel lab for her 500,000 followers.<\/p>\n \u2018Fossi\u2019 may have been the brainchild of a clean energy company that wants to see the back of him one day. But as scientists sound the climate crisis alarm more loudly than ever, the wider fossil fuel industry is still aiming its favoured narratives at the generations that it needs on its side for its survival. They are also the generations that will feel the consequences of climate change the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His name is \u2018Fossi\u2019. He\u2019s depicted as a swirl of grey smoke. And he\u2019s liable to lose his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-363957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OurHiddenPowers.jpg\"\/)
\u201cFossi,\u201d (center), depicted as a swirl of grey smoke, is the protagonist of \u201cOur Hidden Powers: The Big Switch,\u201d a children\u2019s book launched last week by Swedish clean energy operator Baseload Capital, which is part-owned by oil and gas producer Chevron. Credit: Baseload Capital<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/p.30-fossi-e-book-Credit-Baseload-Capital-1024x657.png\"\/)
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