Teachers call for Science Museum gallery boycott

An open letter signed by more than 400 teachers and educators is calling on the Science Museum to drop oil giant Adani as sponsor for its new Energy Revolution Gallery.

Co-ordinated by the Fossil Free Science Museum collective, the letter is the latest expression of concern over the museum’s oil sponsors, BP, Shell and Equinor and Adani, the latter of which was announced last year and led to several high profile boycotts and resignations.

Due to open next year, the Energy Revolution Gallery's target audience is Key Stage 3 and 4 students studying geography and science and young people aged 11-18, according to internal museum documents obtained following a Freedom of Information request.

The signatories pledge not to bring students to the new gallery, or any other gallery, sponsored by a fossil fuel company.

Stating that eco-anxiety amongst young people is on the rise, the letter asks how students are “supposed to feel when they see the Science Museum aligning itself, through multiple projects, with some of the world’s biggest polluters”.

“These sponsorship deals are not altruistic acts, but part of a wider strategy by fossil fuel-producing companies to convince the public that they are the ones solving the climate crisis, rather than the ones creating it,” the letter says.