LONDON, Aug 27 (IPS) – Civil society is working on all fronts to tackle the climate crisis. Activists are protesting en masse to pressure governments and corporations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They are using non-violent direct action and flashy stunts, and are paying a high price as many states criminalize climate protest.
Campaigners are go to court to hold governments and companies accountable for their climate commitments and impacts, with recent breakthroughs in Belgium, India And Switzerlandand many more things that are still ongoing. They are pressuring institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels – 72 percent of British universities have pledged to withdraw – and are corporate resolutions calling for stronger action.
At the global level, activists are working to influence key meetings, particularly the COP climate summits. At the most recent summit, COP28states agreed for the first time to reduce fossil fuel emissions – an incredibly late recognition, but one that came only after intense lobbying by civil society.
As pressure mounts, fossil fuel companies are looking for ways to portray themselves as responsible corporate citizens while continuing their deadly business for as long as possible. They want to appear to be transitioning to renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, when the opposite is true.
Cultural institutions are a prime target for fossil fuel companies with declining reputations but deep pockets. Their expenses are small compared to the benefits. Through sponsorships, they try to present themselves as generous philanthropists and borrow the high public status of well-known institutions. But climate activists are not letting them get away with it. They are increasingly pressuring art galleries and museums to end their funding of fossil fuels.
Science museum in the spotlight
The UK is ground zero, home to countless world-class galleries and museums that are under pressure to attract sponsorship from the private sector and oil and gas giants like BP and Shell. Virtually all of London’s major cultural institutions have historically accepted fossil fuel funding. But that is much less the case now. Thanks to the efforts of campaign groups like Culture Unstained, Fossil Free London and Liberate Tate, several have severed ties.
The latest victory came in July, when the Science Museum in London terminated his contract with Norwegian state oil giant Equinor. Equinor has sponsored WonderLab – an interactive children’s exhibition – since 2016.
Equinor continues to develop new extraction projects despite the International Energy Agency make clear no further fossil fuel developments can take place if there is any hope of achieving the Paris Agreement. Equinor is the majority owner of the North Sea Rosebank oil and gas fieldfor which the British government gave permission to drill last year.
The Science Museum has publicly stated that its sponsorship has simply ended, but emails revealed that Equinor has reneged on the museum’s commitment to ensure that sponsors adhere to the Paris Agreement, as set out in the Initiative for transition pathwhich assesses whether companies are adequately making the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Last year it was revealed that the Science Museum’s contract contained a gag clause that prohibited the museum from saying anything that could damage Equinor’s reputation. Such restrictions could prevent museums from discussing the central role of the fossil fuel industry in causing climate change. There are also examples of companies such as the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell try to influence the content of the exhibitions they sponsor.
In addition to reputation washing, fossil fuel companies can also use sponsorship to lobby for further extraction: BP’s financing of a Mexican-themed event at the British Museum allowed it to network with Mexican government representatives as part of a successful bid for drilling permits. As funding for arts institutions became more controversial, it was also reported that BP brought together representatives of sponsored institutions to discuss how to deal with activists.
Room for improvement
It is unlikely that this change would have happened without pressure from civil society, which increased the Science Museum’s reputational costs. It marked the successful conclusion of an eight-year campaign involving young climate activists, scientists and citizen groups in the UK and Equinor’s home country of Norway.
But there is still much room for improvement. The Science Museum still has a contract with BP, even though the Church of England withdrew from BP for the same reason as the museum, namely because the Transition Pathway Initiative found that Equinor was not in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Even more grotesque, the Science Museum’s new exhibition ‘Energy Revolution’ is sponsored by Adani, the world’s largest private developer of coal mines, which is also involved in the production of drones that Israel uses to kill people in Gaza. In April, campaigners held a sit-in protest this deal. Hundreds of teachers have refused to take their students to the exhibition. In 2021, when the deal was made, two trustees resigned in protest.
There are many ways to express disgust. Sponsorship by Shell of a climate exhibition at a science museum led to several leading academics boycott the institution and refuse to show their work in its exhibitions. Several galleries and museums that have accepted fossil fuel money have seen activists occupy their spaces in protest. When the Tate group of galleries was sponsored by BP, Liberate Tate organised a series of artistic interventions, including one in which people used specially designed counterfeit banknotes.
British Museum on the wrong side of history
As long as it insists on accepting fossil fuel funding, the Science Museum can expect nothing but more bad publicity. And it is now a bit of a laggard. Many of the UK’s internationally renowned institutions have acceded to civil society’s demands to cut the cord. The National Portrait Gallery, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company and Tate have cut ties with BP, and the British Film Institute, National Theatre and Southbank Centre have stopped accepting funding from Shell.
The trend has spread beyond the UK, with Amsterdam’s famous Van Gogh Museum ending its Shell deal in response to campaigning. In 2020, the city’s famous museum district was declared free from fossil fuel sponsorship.
But besides the Science Museum, there is another major rival: the British Museum, long controversial for its vast collection of looted colonial artefacts. Last year, it put itself on the wrong side of history again by signing a 10-year, US$65.6 million deal dealing with BPwhich mocked his stated intention to phase out the use of fossil fuels. It was contrary to protests and a letter signed by over 300 museum professionals calling on the museum to end its relationship with BP, while the vice-chair resigned in protest.
It’s not just the cultural sector that fossil fuel companies are trying to hijack – they’re also involved in it extensively sport. Petrostates such as Qatarand probably soon Saudi Arabiaorganize major global sporting events, sponsor everything from elite athletes to grassroots sports, and use sovereign wealth funds to buy famous football clubs.
People rightly expect the arts, sciences and sports to be held to exemplary standards because at their best they are the highest expressions of what humanity can achieve. That is why it is so shocking when fossil fuel companies try to hijack them. Any attempts to whitewash their reputations must be met with determined resistance.
Andrew Firmin is editor-in-chief, co-director and writer of CIVICUS CIVICUS lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
