The British Museum has secured a £50m donation from oil giant BP despite vocal opposition from environmental campaigners.
The 270-year-old institution will receive the money over 10 years to help with the masterplan renovation of the museum’s Bloomsbury site which will include an overhaul of its electrical and plumbing systems.
Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the British Museum’s masterplan committee, said the grounds were in urgent need of renovation and he was grateful to BP for its support.
But environmental campaigners have slammed the partnership as “completely indefensible” and out of touch with ordinary Britons.
Greenpeace claimed the deal was “brazen greenwashing” and should be terminated.
Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a ‘Drop BP’ sign inside the British Museum in April 2022— (PA)
Sir Charles said: “The British Museum is one of the largest and most visited cultural institutions in the world but some of its buildings are over 200 years old and in urgent need of refurbishment.”
“That’s why the masterplan is so essential – and it’s exciting to be moving forward with our plans. There’s so much to look forward to in 2024 and we are grateful to all our partners for their support.”
It comes after the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate previously cut ties with the company over concerns about climate change.
Environmental group Culture Unstained, which campaigns for ending oil sponsorship of culture in the UK, told The Independent: “This is an astonishingly out of touch and completely indefensible decision.
“We believe this decision is illegitimate and in breach of the museum’s own climate commitments and will be seeking legal advice in order to mount a formal challenge to it.”
Greenpeace added: “No cultural establishment that has a responsibility to educate and inform should be allowing fossil fuel companies to pay them to clean their image, not least the British Museum,” Greenpeace UK’s policy director Doug Parr said.
Louise Kingham, BP senior vice-president, said: “We are proud to be a long-term partner to this important British institution and play our part in its future transformation.”
