Yeah, No Shit: Oil Majors Donated To Museums, Art Galleries, Girl Scouts To Polish What Remains Of Their Image
Last edited Wed May 21, 2025, 09:22 AM - Edit history (1)
Oil interests have funded cultural institutions such as museums, youth organizations and athletic groups in recent years, new research shows, in what appears to be a public relations effort to boost their image amid growing public awareness of the climate crisis. Top US fossil fuel lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) sponsored a 2017 workshop for the Pennsylvania Girl Scouts, featuring “activities that mimicked work in the energy industry”. Energy giant BP in 2016 sponsored Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art and continues to fund the British Museum in London. And in 2019, Shell sponsored the golf event the Houston Open for the 26th time.
The new evidence of sponsorships were found in internal communications from 2015 to 2021 subpoenaed from big oil via a US Congressional investigation last year. They were uncovered by Rebecca John, a researcher at the Climate Investigations Center, and published in the climate outlet DeSmog.
The documents also shed light on the particular value the companies see in the partnerships. In a 2017 email, for instance, the then CEO of API said the Girl Scouts sponsorship came as part of an effort to partner with “nontraditional local allies”, which he described as “some of the best and most influential voices with targeted policymakers on industry issues” who can help the lobby group overcome “policy issues”. API has a large lobbying presence in Pennsylvania, which is the country’s second-largest gas producer. The Guardian has asked API, BP and Shell for comment. API states that it sponsors cultural endeavors because “we are a principles-based organization.”
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A 2017 internal memo from BP America says the relationships could provide a shield from “threats to BP’s reputation”, including “overall negative sentiment about the oil and gas industry” and the “policy and politics of climate change”. A separate 2016 document assessing the company’s “position” instructed staff to emphasize the message that more than 50 million people in the UK had “engaged with a BP-supported activity” due to its funding of institutions such as the British Museum and Royal Shakespeare Company.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/20/oil-industry-reputation-girl-scouts-british-museum