Image: The exterior of Science Museum, London (CC BY-SA 4.0 Shadowssettle)
The energy company had previously sponsored the museum’s Wonderlab: The Equinor Gallery
The Science Museum has ended its partnership with oil and gas company Equinor, the former sponsor of its Wonderlab gallery.
The end of the partnership was announced in a blog post by the museum’s Chair Tim Laurence late last month, but a reason for its end was not clearly stated.
Laurence wrote in the blog that while the museum’s board “do not agree with those who say we should rule out accepting sponsorship from all companies involved in fossil fuel extraction,” “those with whom we partner must demonstrate that they are moving with sufficient urgency along the transition pathway to match our aspirations.”
The museum told Advisor that it would engage with any partner organisation which fails to meet certain thresholds set out by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), which independently rates and tracks business efforts to reduce carbon output.
It said in cases where partners were not meeting the requirements, the museum would “engage with [the company] and encourage it to do better.
“If that engagement proves unsuccessful, we would at an appropriate moment disengage from them. This process allows a 12-month period for the organisation to work towards meeting the benchmarks.”
Culture Unstained, a campaigning organisation against fossil fuel company partnerships in the culture sector, accused the Science Museum of being ‘forced’ to drop Equinor as a sponsor because of its environmental record.
It claims that emails it has seen following a Freedom of Information request show Equinor had been contacted by the museum’s Director in 2022, and again in November 2023 after the TPI concluded Equinor’s business was not aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, one of the museum’s requirements.
Its co-director Chris Garrard said: “rather than proudly telling the world that [the museum] took action because its sponsor was flouting climate targets backed by governments around the world, the museum continues to push the false narrative that its polluting sponsors are leading the energy transition.”
“With BP also failing to align its business with Paris Agreement goals and Adani the world’s biggest private producer of coal, the museum must now hold these companies to the same standard and stop promoting their toxic brands,” Garrard added.
The museum told Advisor that BP is aligned with both of its TPI requirements.
