London Science Museum Ends Decades-Long BP Partnership

The Science Museum Group announced that its partnership with oil and gas giant BP will end at the conclusion of the current contract term. Sir Ian Blatchford, director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, said the collaboration had “drawn to a close” and that the museum would move forward without BP’s financial support.

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BP’s involvement with the museum dates back several decades, most recently through the Science Museum Group Academy, which was launched in 2018 to provide training and resources for teachers, museum practitioners and the STEM industry. The academy highlighted BP’s “generous contributions” in enabling science-engagement training for thousands of professionals. In 2024, the museum similarly terminated a partnership with Equinor after the company failed to align its carbon-emission reductions with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C target.

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• Sir Ian Blatchford – Director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, responsible for announcing the partnership’s end.

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• Chris Garrard – Campaigner with Culture Unstained, who has long criticised corporate influence over STEM education.

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• BP – The oil and gas company whose multi-decade partnership with the museum is being terminated.

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• Adani Green Energy Ltd – A subsidiary of the Adani Group that continues to provide funding to the museum despite the BP split.

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• BP’s support helped inspire more than 11,000 education, museum and science professionals through research-informed training.

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• The partnership contributed to outreach that reached over 1 million young people across the United Kingdom.

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Campaigners argue the decision marks a “seismic shift” after years of pressure from educators and schools, some of which have threatened to boycott museum visits while the BP partnership persisted. Chris Garrard described the move as a “partial victory,” noting that the museum still receives money from Adani Green Energy Ltd, one of the world’s largest private coal-mining and energy conglomerates. The split may prompt other cultural institutions to reassess fossil-fuel sponsorships, but the continued flow of funds from other carbon-intensive firms suggests that the museum’s funding model remains partially dependent on the fossil-fuel sector.

The Guardian