Thread by @helenczerski

This is a long thread that I wish I didn’t have to write. The Science Museum Group @sciencemuseum is persisting with Shell as the major sponsor of their upcoming exhibition “Our Future Planet”. theartnewspaper.com/news/science-m… independent.co.uk/independentpre… 1/n

Shell should not be given the prestige & implicit stamp of approval that this exhibition will give them. They are woefully behind in acting on the climate crisis, even though they are very well placed to do so. They should not be rewarded for their self-serving behaviour. 2/n

Shell said they’d spend around a billion a year on renewables, but they were at a third of that at the start of 2020. They are spending $30 billion a year developing fossil fuel projects:
theguardian.com/business/2020/… 3/n

For context, their revenue is 180 billion per year : reports.shell.com/annual-report/… 4/n

They’re open about only pursuing renewables research if it's profitable: p20 here: “we are exploring emerging opportunities & investing in those where we believe sufficient commercial value is available”. The company structure is all abt fossil fuel.
reports.shell.com/annual-report/… 5/n

Their strategy says they will be carbon neutral by 2050 “in line with society”: shell.com/energy-and-inn… That’s not exactly leading the charge, is it? It gives the impression of hanging around at the back, hoping to be the last ones benefitting from the profitable oil world. 6/n

Ian Blatchford is right that “The major energy companies have the capital, geography, people & logistics to be major players in finding solutions to the urgent global challenge of climate change”. But Shell isn't doing that. What good is having it if you don’t use it? 7/n

The exhibition page: sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/our… It’s focussed on carbon capture & storage, which may be necessary as a last resort but **is not a substitute for eliminating fossil fuel use**. Shell are clearly hoping to persuade the world that CCS will let the burning continue. 8/n

They have known the damage that they were doing to the world for years, and they deliberately hid it and obfuscated the debate: theguardian.com/environment/cl… 9/n

They denied it was their responsibility – they took the profits and we took the consequences. Believe me, I *want* them to be using their power to do better. But they aren’t – their renewables R&D is pitiful - and they need to be called out on that. 10/n

Fossil fuel companies have squandered society’s trust. They can’t just breeze in & be offered a place at the table without acknowledgement of their real role. They need to earn that trust back & they need to do it the hard way, by using their resources to make real change. 11/n

Do I want Earth’s future to be Shell’s “Future Planet”? No. They have the resources to change path & they’re fiddling round the edges. At their pace, nothing significant will change until far too late. We can’t afford that & I don’t want to live in the mess they’ll leave. 12/n

Why does Shell want this? Because funding a major exhibition at a national museum is a very cheap way for them to look green without major change. If they were investing seriously in renewables, they might earn a place at that table. But they’re not. It’s greenwashing. 13/n

I have been approached by Shell to “work with them” on small projects on women in science and STEM in general, and I was offered more money than I’ve ever been offered for a day’s work. They were turned down without hesitation. I will not help them greenwash. 14/n

I am incredibly sad to have to write all this. I love the Science Museum and all the things in it. It plays an incredibly important role in protecting our country’s scientific heritage. But they are on the wrong side of history here and we must tell them that. 15/n

They have a responsibility to share science honestly. The reality is that we need to #StopBurningStuff , now. Carbon capture is secondary. The science that needs to be shared is that of how to re-think society so that we consume less energy & produce what we need sustainably.16/n

All our national museums need our support when they reopen on May 17th. They are fabulous places of wonder & shared culture & history. Please visit them. But don’t let @sciencemuseum think that massive fossil fuel sponsorship of a climate exhibition is acceptable. It isn’t.17/n

And here endeth the longest twitter thread I’ve ever written. 18/18