The Science Museum has been forced to cut ties with oil giant Equinor over its sponsor’s environmental record, the Observer can reveal.
Equinor sponsored the museum’s interactive “Wonder Lab” since 2016, but the relationship is now closing, a move that will be seen as a major victory for climate change campaigners.
The London museum said it was cutting ties with the Norwegian state-owned energy giant over its failure to cut carbon emissions sufficiently to ensure it is in line with the Paris climate agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
The sponsorship deal was controversial due to Equinor’s role in it Rose bankthe largest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, which the government gave the go-ahead to develop last year.
The company also has a “oral clause” in its original agreement with the museum, which prevented staff from making comments that could be seen as “discrediting or damaging the goodwill or reputation” of Equinor.
Although the museum has claimed that such clauses are reciprocal and standard in corporate partnerships, it has pledged to remove them in the future.
The Science Museum confirmed in a statement that Equinor’s sponsorship “came to an end at the end of their current contract term”.
A museum spokesperson added: “The partnership concludes with our warm appreciation and with our continued encouragement to Equinor to continue to raise the bar in their efforts to set emission reduction targets consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.”
In emails released under freedom of information legislation and with the ObserverScience Museum director Sir Ian Blatchford told Equinor that the company had broken the museum’s pledge to ensure its sponsors complied with the 2015. Paris Climate Agreement.
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In other correspondence, the museum confirmed that sponsors who break climate commitments and cannot change course will be subject to gradual disengagement.
The move added to pressure on the museum to sever ties with other fossil fuel sponsors, including oil giant BP and Indian coal mining conglomerate Adani.
last year the Church of England cut its fossil fuel investments after the closure of no major oil and gas company was in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative.
The move is a major shift in policy by the museum, which has vigorously defended its relationships with oil and gas companies in the past. In 2019, Blatchford joined the Financial Times that “even if the Science Museum were to be generously funded by the public, I would still want sponsorship from the oil companies”.
Campaigners welcomed the decision to end the sponsorship. Chris Garrard, co-director of Culture Unstained, which campaigned against fossil fuel sponsorship of the Science Museum, said: “This is a seismic shift. After years of increasing pressure, the Science Museum has now adopted red lines on climate change that led to Equinor being abandoned.
“Yet rather than proudly tell the world that it acted because its sponsor is flouting climate targets backed by governments around the world, the museum continues to promote the false narrative that its polluting sponsors are leading the energy transition.”
He added: “With BP also not aligning its business with Paris Agreement goals and Adani the world’s largest private producer of coal, the museum must now hold these companies to the same standard and stop promoting their toxic brands. “
The move comes after that the controversy surrounding investment manager Baillie Gifford and his ties to Israel and fossil fuel companies.
A campaign by Fossil Free Books led to Baillie Gifford ending funding for nine book festivals, including Edinburgh, Cheltenham and the Hay Festival, which was the first to drop sponsorship after speakers began boycotting the event.
