Open letter from British Museum members: drop BP

Glass and steel roof of the British Museum central court
Maria Giulia Tolotti, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, cropped

Are you a Member of the British Museum? Please add your name to call for an end to the Museum's relationship with BP. The Museum is considering signing a new contract with BP, so we need to speak up now! Read more here.

To: The Director and Trustees of the British Museum

We write as Members of the British Museum deeply concerned about the Museum’s sponsorship by fossil fuel giant BP, and the credibility this offers a company that continues to drive the climate crisis. We all need to act boldly and urgently to reduce our climate impacts as much as possible: in the Museum’s case, this means ending its relationship with BP.

BP may promote its investments in ‘low carbon’ energy, but the majority of its business remains the production and refining of oil and fossil gas. Despite its ‘net zero’ claims it continues to invest in new exploration that imperils global commitments to limit warning to 1.5°C and will drive us further into global climate catastrophe.

BP remains part of the problem not part of the solution, yet the Museum’s acceptance of sponsorship lends legitimacy to BP’s brand, at the cost of the Museum’s own reputation. A continuation of this relationship would leave the Museum on the wrong side of history.

Yours sincerely,

  • Sarah Waldron
  • Paul Amundsen
  • Helen Hills: Professor of History of Art, BM member of many years standing
  • Kate Mckenzie
  • Jeffrey Wood
  • Suzanne Burge
  • Peter M. Green; Retired Lecturer
  • Michael Ackerman
  • Pat Devine
  • Lunita Williams
  • Geoffrey Band
  • Catherine Henderson: I am an educational writer and film maker and have visited the museum many times for my research
  • Suzanne Savage; Anthropologist and retired lecturer
  • Elizabeth Hoddy
  • Richard Smith
  • Emma Brooker
  • Anita Dickinson: I have been a member for over ten years
  • Corinne D'Cruz: theatre maker with a passion for archaeology and the dissemination of knowledge - BM member for a decade.
  • Michael Banks
  • Paul Brown
  • Paul Gray
  • Deborah Albon
  • David Albon
  • Billie Bond
  • Ken Smith
  • Krystalla de Snyder
  • Catherine Iwinski
  • Gareth Jones
  • E Griffiths
  • Jess Worth
  • Ivan Vince
  • Megumi Hishiya
  • Pablo Uchoa: In July 2022 the British museum had to close its doors earlier for two days because of a historical, record-breaking heatwave in London. We can no longer allow fossil-fuel companies’ attempts to push good PR on us. Time to put our money where the mouth is.
  • Claire Holliss
  • Kyle Jordan: British Museum Friends Advisory Council Member
  • Virginia Taylor
  • Lisa Matthews
  • Chip Hamer
  • Keith Scott
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