On the 13th April 2022, the following formal submission was sent to the British Museum’s Board of Trustees. Compiled by Culture Unstained and signed by individuals from several different fields – including climate science, archaeology and museums practice – it was intended as a constructive contribution to the Board’s discussions on the Museum’s potential renewal of its partnership with BP.

The submission sets out:

• how the potential harm of signing a new sponsorship agreement with BP demonstrably outweighs the benefits and would be inconsistent with the museum’s commitments on sustainability
• how the reputational risks of doing so would apply across the short and longer term
• how trustees would be fulfilling their legal duties by exercising informed and ethical judgement in the specific case of rejecting sponsorship from BP
• how trustees have the capacity to reject sponsorship from BP because it would not conflict with their fiduciary responsibilities or harm the museum’s long-term financial sustainability

You can read the submission in full here.