London's Science Museum forced to cut ties with oil giant – and faces pressure from other sponsors

The Science Museum has been forced to cut ties with oil giant Equinor over its sponsor's environmental record, observer It can be revealed.

Equinor has sponsored the museum's interactive 'WonderLab' since 2016, but the relationship is coming to an end, It is a move that will be seen as a major victory for climate change activists.

The Museum of London said it had severed ties with the state-owned Norwegian energy giant over its failure to cut carbon emissions enough to ensure it was in line with the Paris climate agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The sponsorship deal was controversial because of Equinor's role in Rosebank, the largest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, which the government authorized development last year.

The company also included a “non-disclosure clause” in its original agreement with the museum, which prohibited employees from making comments that could be considered to “discredit or damage the reputation or reputation of Equinor.”

Although the museum claimed that such clauses were reciprocal and standard in corporate partnerships, it promised to remove them in the future.

The Science Museum confirmed in a statement that Equinor's sponsorship “has ended at the end of its current contract.”

A museum spokesperson added: “The partnership concludes with our warm appreciation and continued encouragement to Equinor to continue to scale up its efforts to deliver on its emissions reduction targets in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.”

In emails released under Freedom of Information legislation and shared with observerThe Science Museum's director, Sir Ian Blatchford, told Equinor that the company was in breach of the museum's pledge to ensure its patrons comply with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In other correspondence, the museum confirmed that sponsors who violated climate commitments and failed to change course would be subject to phase-out.

The move has increased pressure on the museum to cut ties with other fossil fuel backers, including oil giant BP and Indian coal miner Adani.

Last year, the Church of England cut its investment in fossil fuels after concluding that none of the major oil and gas companies were aligned with the goals of the Paris climate agreement, according to an assessment by the Transition Pathway Initiative.

The move represents a major shift in policy for the museum, which has vigorously defended its ties to oil and gas companies in the past. Blatchford said in 2019: monetary occasions “Even if the science museum were generously funded by the public sector, I would still want sponsorship from oil companies.”

Activists welcomed the decision to end the sponsorship. “This is a seismic shift,” said Chris Garrard, co-director of Tradition Unstained, which campaigned against the Science Museum’s fossil fuel sponsorship. “After years of mounting pressure, the Science Museum has now adopted red lines on climate change, leading to Equinor’s withdrawal.”

“Yet, instead of proudly telling the world that it took action because its patron was violating climate targets supported by governments around the world, the museum continues to promote the false narrative that its polluting patrons are leading the energy transition.”

“With BP also failing to align its business with the goals of the Paris Agreement and Adani being the world’s largest private coal producer, the museum must now hold these companies to the same standards and stop promoting their toxic brands,” he added.

The move comes in the wake of controversy surrounding investment manager Baillie Gifford and his ties to Israel and fossil fuel companies.

A campaign by Fossil Free Books has led Baillie Gifford to end funding for nine book festivals, including Edinburgh, Cheltenham and the Hay Pageant, which was the first to decline sponsorship after speakers began boycotting the event.