On Monday 15 September, the Science Museum in London held a private cocktails and canapés reception for one of its key sponsors, genocide profiteer and prolific human rights violator Adani.

In the wake of this, campaigners are ramping up calls for a full cultural and educational boycott of the museum for its gross greenwashing for big polluters.

Adani at the Science Museum: cocktails and canapés for the climate criminal

The company became the sponsor for the museum’s new ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery. Opening in 2023, this replaced the Shell-sponsored ‘Atmosphere’ gallery.

The conglomerate is involved in large-scale coal mining. It is one of the foremost companies profiting from the polluting industry driving the climate crisis.

As India’s biggest coal producer, it has been at the centre of violent displacements of Indigenous Adivasi people from their ancestral lands. It has an extensive record of human rights abuses against the Indigenous population. Alongside this, the company has a chequered history of workers’ rights violations. It has subjected its employees to inhumane conditions which have led to injuries and deaths at its facilities.

And while the museum sponsorship is through its renewables arm Adani Green Energy, the group is ramping up its production of coal. On 13 September it announced a new agreement for an additional 2,400MW power plant in Bhagalpur.

Adani is also the operator of Israel’s Haifa port, through which countries are supplying it with the fuel and weapons its using in its genocide. It is a manufacturer of drones in partnership with Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems. Of course, Israel has used these to brutally massacre Palestinians in Gaza.

Yet, despite ethical issues around the group, the Science Museum has given the Adani name a huge presence within the museum. It has ignored the group’s role in exacerbating global issues of climate crisis and enabling war crimes.

Once again, the museum’s shameful greenwashing for the coal giant was on full display at this latest schmooze-fest.

Adani execs: awash with bribery allegations

Adani held its private reception for investors inside the Science Museum’s ‘Energy Revolution: Adani Green Energy Gallery’. As around 50-60 smartly dressed guests arrived, activists greeted them by unfurling a banner at the museum doorway which read:

The Science Museum: complicit in human rights buses, fraud, bribery, climate destruction, genocide.

The cocktails and canapés event coincided with a series of in-person investor meetings hosted by the Adani Group. Between 15 -17 September the ports, coal and green energy arms of the conglomerate came together for these in London.

The event comes after the museum confirmed earlier this year that it was “monitoring developments” after the US issued arrest warrants for senior Adani executives. This included billionaire Chairman Gautam Adani. The warrants were over their alleged role in a major $265m bribery scheme. Ironically, the bribery allegations revolved around a solar project the company has showcased in its Energy Revolution gallery.

As the Art Newspaper reported, previous Freedom of Information requests showed that the Science Museum:

produced an internal due diligence report which identified instances of alleged corruption and fraud, as well as human rights concerns associated with the Adani Group.

Outrageously however, the Science Museum has obstinately maintained its ties with Adani and hosted this function. This is also despite the clear anti-bribery positions in its own ethics policy, which states that:

The Science Museum Group will not accept donations, sponsorship or grants where the donor has acted, or believed to have acted, illegally in the acquisition of funds or where there are concerns of fraud, money laundering or other financial crime.

In bed with BP too

For the last four years, climate crisis and pro-Palestine campaigners have been holding the museum’s feet under the fire for its problematic sponsorships. The museum also hosts oil and gas company BP among its significant sponsors. This is despite the company’s long atrocious human rights and climate record.

The fossil fuel major is complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. In November 2023, Israel awarded a number of Western energy companies, including BP, gas exploration licences in occupied Palestinian waters. Alongside this, BP is the operator and largest shareholder of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The pipeline has supplied Israel with 28% of its oil during its genocide.

Notably, BP worked with the Science Museum to establish its Energy Gallery in 2003. Today, BP sponsors the museums STEM ‘Training Academy’. This trains teachers on how to deliver science education. And until recently, it also hosted the annual awards ceremony of its ‘Ultimate STEM Challenge’ in the museum.

A full cultural and educational boycott

In the wake of this new appalling greenwashing event, groups are calling for a full educational, cultural, and academic boycott of the Science Museum.

Fossil Free Science Museum, Parents for Palestine, Culture Unstained, Education Climate Coalition, and others are spearheading this until it drops Adani as a sponsor.

As part of this, the Education Climate Coalition is hosting an online webinar on Thursday 18 September.

As one boycotting school headteacher said:

discussing with students then agreeing to join this boycott was one of the best educational lessons; our students now have a greater understanding of the importance to uphold moral standards and the power of our collective voice.

The webinar, designed for educators, will be exploring the following questions:

• Did you know that the Science Museum’s sponsors, Adani and BP, are both ramping up fossil fuel extraction, are complicit in the genocide in Gaza and guilty of human rights abuses globally?
• Is the Science Museum compromising itself and its reputation among young people and the educational community by offering these companies a promotional platform?
• Can educators trust the educational materials made through the Science Museum’s STEM Academy, knowing that they’re funded by fossil fuel companies?
• If trustees are resigning over this, what message is this sending to our students by maintaining their sponsorship?

The webinar will feature speakers from the NEU, London Mining Network, Culture Unstained, South Asia Solidarity Group, Ministry for EcoEducation, and DeSmog. The NEU will outline support for any teacher or school joining the boycott.

Parents pulling up the museum for its problematic partnerships

It will build on the success of boycott partners like Parents for Palestine, which launched its ‘Press Pause on School Trips’ campaign in May 2025.

The group has highlighted that school trips are an integral part of a child’s learning and exposure to different ways of seeing the world. But its campaign points out that asking a school to cancel a trip to the Science Museum is not a loss – there are many alternatives. It offers an opportunity for educators to introduce into their classroom topics of climate justice and human rights, including the human impact of fossil fuel production, as well as Palestinian culture, history, and the current genocide.

Science Museum director Ian Blatchford has claimed that visitors support the Science Museum’s corporate partnerships. Yet in 2021, over 500 teachers pledged to boycott the museum over its support of the billionaire coal producer. And in April, the National Education Union (NEU) – the largest education union – passed the following motion during its conference:

Support a campaign for schools to boycott the Science Museum Group while they are sponsored by Adani and BP.

Since it launched its campaign, the group has got 14 schools to agree to boycott the Science Museum. Nearly 500 parents have been involved in the campaign. So far, they have called on 34 schools to cut ties with the greenwashing institution.

Parents for Palestine member Leila Hoballah said:

Parents are shocked when they find out about the Science Museum’s partnerships with Adani and BP. This boycott campaign is a practical and easy way to take action. It raises awareness among our school communities and shows that we can have the power to make changes and ensure our kids’ education is not exploited to legitimise dirty profits.

To join the Science Museum boycott webinar, educators and the public can sign up here.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.