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The British Museum has been branded ‘astonishingly out of touch’ after announcing its decision to accept a record-breaking £50m donation from oil giant BP
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 22 Dec 2023
Protests groups regularly campaign against the British Museum’s partnership with oil and gas giant BP Credit: BP or Not BP?
The British Museum has been called “out of touch” and accused of supporting greenwashing after the institution accepted the largest ever corporate donation to the UK arts sector - a £50m (US$63.6m, €57.7m) deal with oil giant BP.
A ten year agreement, the donation from BP will be used to upgrade around a third of the museum’s galleries, as well as phase out its own reliance on fossil fuels. This includes modernising sections of the site which house objects including the Rosetta Stone and the controversial Elgin Marbles. The BP-backed masterplan will also address structural issues with the museum’s Grade I-listed building, first opened in 1852.
In a statement, Charlie Mayfield, chair of the museum’s masterplan committee, said the works were “essential”, with the museum “in urgent need of refurbishment”.
The British Museum’s controversial partnership with BP dates back to 1996 climate campaign groups long-criticising and regularly protesting the institution’s decision to accept funding from the oil and gas industry.
While other institutions in Britain, such as the National Portrait Gallery, Tate and the Royal Opera House, have dropped oil sponsors, the British Museum continues to allow BP to fund its projects and exhibitions. It was thought earlier this year that the British Museum and BP has finally ended their relationship after 27 years, but the museum refuted those claims.
According to protest group Culture Unstained, the announcement has been called “astonishingly out of touch” and “completely indefensible”, with a plan in place to formally challenge the plans.
“The only way you can sign up to a new sponsorship deal with a planet-wrecking fossil fuel company in 2023 is by burying your head in the sand, pretending the climate crisis isn’t happening and ignoring the almost complete rejection of fossil fuel funding by the cultural sector in recent years,” said Chris Garrard, co-director of Culture Unstained.
Meanwhile activist organisation BP or Not BP? said that the museum could not “partner with a major polluter in 2023 and say you’re sustainable”, adding that the deal represented climate denial.
Doug Parr, UK Policy director for Greenpeace also commented: “The arts and culture world has been steadily cutting ties with big oil after realising the handy role they play in cleaning up their climate-wrecking image. Yet BP have wormed their way back into the British Museum with what must surely be one of the biggest, most brazen greenwashing sponsorship deals the sector has ever seen.”
The funding has already led to casualties within the museum, with trustee and broadcaster Muriel Gray resigning from her post this week in protest of the announcement.
The British Museum has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently, with the institution also under fire after it was found that up to 1,500 artefacts had been stolen over a number of years. The controversy has led to the firing of a man thought responsible for the thefts, while the museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, and his deputy, Jonathan Williams have both left their posts.
The museum is also in constant dispute with Greece over the ownership of the Elgin Marbles, which last month resulted in a diplomatic incident that saw British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancel a meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after he called for the sculptures to be returned ahead of their planned talks.
“The British Museum offers a window to the world for the millions of people that pass through its doors every year,” said Louise Kingham, chair of BP.
“As a business that has made Britain its home for over a century, we are proud to be a long-term partner to this important British institution and play our part in its future transformation.”
Museums and galleries
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