Britain’s Science Museum ends BP sponsorship of its training academy

The Science Museum in London has ended a nearly 25-year sponsorship relationship with BP, letting the oil and gas company’s funding of its teacher-training academy lapse on August 31 without renewal.

The Science Museum Group, which runs the Science Museum and five other institutions in England, said in an August 28 statement that its partnership with BP would “draw to a close on Monday 31 August at the end of its agreed term.”

BP was the founding sponsor of the Science Museum Group Academy, which has trained STEM teachers, museum staff and other public-engagement workers since 2018.

“BP’s generous contributions helped us to inspire more than 11,000 education, museum and science professionals through research-informed science engagement training, supporting vital work to spark curiosity and bring science to life for more than a million young people across the country,” Ian Blatchford, the group’s director and chief executive, said in the statement.

The group disputed how the arrangement had been described. An SMG spokesperson told The Art Newspaper that reports the academy agreement was a ten-year deal expected to run until 2028 were inaccurate, and that terms and amounts were “commercially sensitive.”

Documents released to The Guardian after a freedom of information request earlier this year showed BP influenced the program it funded. The research project that became the academy — Enterprising Science — allowed major decisions to be “validly passed … unless the representative of BP votes in its favour,” giving the company a veto over the project’s direction.

Chris Garrard of the campaign group Culture Unstained told The Guardian at the time that BP’s influence over young people’s learning was “calculated and insidious.”

The Science Museum Group’s sustainability policy requires energy-sector sponsors involved in fossil fuel extraction to follow a pathway aligned with the Paris climate agreement, assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative. The group has committed to reaching net zero by 2033.

In 2024, the group ended its sponsorship by the Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor after finding its business plans breached those benchmarks. Research by the Transition Pathway Initiative found that BP’s climate goals are not matched by its investments and business plans, the Museums Association reported.

A survey by the Prospect union, released through a freedom of information request and reported in April, found 64% of Science Museum staff disagreed with the group’s decisions on public programs, sponsorship and partnerships. The group said the survey question combined three separate areas of its work, making conclusions impossible, Arts Professional reported.

The end of the partnership follows a boycott of school trips to the museum backed by the National Education Union, with teachers pledging to maintain it until the group cuts ties with BP and Adani.

Daniel Selwyn, a geography teacher who backs the boycott, said BP’s sponsorship had been “a shameful stain on its reputation for too long” and called on the museum to drop Adani.

Culture Unstained called the end of the BP deal a “partial victory” and said in a statement that the museum “is yet to fully turn its back on dirty fossil fuel money” while it keeps its sponsorship from Adani.

Adani Green Energy is the title funder of the Science Museum’s Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery, which opened in March 2024. Gautam Adani, chair of the wider Adani Group, attended the launch. The conglomerate is one of the world’s largest private coal producers.

The group’s 2023-24 annual review listed BP, Adani Green Energy and Equinor among the Science Museum’s corporate partners.

With BP’s academy sponsorship ended, the British Museum is the last major UK cultural institution still sponsored by the company. It signed a £50 million, ten-year deal with BP in 2023 to support its redevelopment.

In October 2025, the Museums Association ratified a code of ethics urging the sector to “transition away” from sponsorship tied to environmental harm and human rights abuses.

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