How oil giants influence companies, brands and institutions globally
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Earlier this week, BP came under fire from campaigners accusing the oil giant of having an ‘insidious influence’ on the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths in the UK through its relationship with the Science Museum.
Documents show that the company funded a research project leading to the creation of the Science Museum’s teacher and educator training programme, which BP sponsors. In total, it has run more than 500 courses for more than 5,000 teachers.
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The Science Museum has dismissed the claims, saying that although BP funded the project and sponsored the academy, it had ‘no involvement in the research or educational output’.
Concern over the Science Museum’s relations with BP has been longstanding, with more than 400 teachers and scientists pledging to boycott the museum back in 2022.
So, what other companies, institutions and organisations have oil companies supported? And what exactly does this mean for them?
Sporting ventures
Estimates suggest $5.6 billion has been spent by state-owned and private fossil fuel companies on sponsorship for major sports, across 205 deals. Football takes the number one spot – with 58 active deals – followed by motorsports (39), rugby union (17), golf (15) and ice hockey (15).
Critics argue this amounts to sportswashing – when companies use sports sponsorships to redirect public attention away from unethical conduct and practices elsewhere.
As Geographical reported in 2024, major fossil fuel companies such as Shell, Ineos, TotalEnergies and Aramco have long been affiliated with the sporting world .
Aramco – the Saudi Arabian oil company, the world’s most profitable – is estimated to have contributed to more than four per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1965, and five per cent of global emissions from 2016-2022. It is currently FIFA’s ‘Major Worldwide Partner’, in a deal expected to run until 2027 and worth $100 million each year.
Ineos, a relatively new petrochemical company, has an extensive array of sports sponsorships from investments in Mercedes F1 team in 2020 – in a deal worth $128 million – and it owns 28.94 per cent of Manchester United.
Ranking ninth on the world’s historic CO2e emitters on the list (1892–2022), Shell’s involvement in sports has also been extensive. From football, cycling and motorsports, to surfing and golf, the company is involved in sponsorship deals across the globe, totalling an estimated $469.5million.
Although some fossil fuel companies promote working on climate pledges – such as Shell’s use of carbon credits to reach net zero by 2050 – these are often seen as attempts at ‘greenwashing’, with reports being made to the Advertising Standards Agency that such claims do not have substantial evidence to back them.
British Museum
Back in 2023, the British Museum signed a ten-year, £50million partnership with oil giant BP to fund one of its biggest redevelopments in the museum’s history. Such a move, according to climate activists, was ‘astonishingly out of touch’, following the news that BP had abandoned its climate targets in favour of doubling down on fossil fuel production. In response, the British Museum said it would need ‘corporate and private donations from companies like BP to ensure that the magnificent collection stays on display to the public for centuries to come.’
BP has had a long history of sponsoring arts institutions in Britain, but many – such as Tate galleries, the Royal Opera House and the National Portrait Gallery – have cut ties with the giant in recent years, following pressure from climate campaigners.
UK universities
Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London are among the universities to have been given funding from some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, according to research by openDemocracy.
Between 2017 and 2021, Imperial accepted £54million, by far the most of any institution surveyed. This figure included £39million from Shell, with which the university has said it has a ‘longstanding and fruitful partnership.’ According to Imperial, confidentiality of private contracts meant it could not say what the money was used for, stating that it broadly funded research into ‘energy transition, lowering carbon emissions in extraction and in carbon mitigation measures’.
Cambridge University received more than £14million from oil and gas companies, while Oxford received almost £8million. Such donations included large sums to Oxford’s Said Business School Centre for Corporate Reputation.
Southampton, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Bath universities also took more than £1million each from the oil firms.
Medical journals
As reported by Geographical in 2024, fossil fuel companies are funding research published by medical journals around the world. Analysis has shown 14 fossil fuel companies have been involved in more than 1,190 articles in the last six years alone.
Aramco – the world’s largest oil and gas producer – was involved in around 600 articles, mostly those through a joint project between Johns Hopkins Medicine and the company, dubbed Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH).
ExxonMobil – whose business ventures until recently included the drilling of oil for almost three decades in Equatorial Guinea, a country with a high risk of malaria – was linked to the second largest group of articles. This is the same company which has funded the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network, which supports malaria research.
Employees of major fossil fuel companies were also found to have co-authored more than 1,000 articles, often due to the involvement of hospitals or other recent institutes directly related to them, such as the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) Ahmadi Hospital.
Currently, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) is the only one of the world’s five leading medical journals to implement a policy banning fossil-fuel-tied research. This has now been extended to other BMJ journals, as well as to within advertising: any banks which now fund fossil fuel companies are not permitted to advertise within the BMJ.
Literary festivals
In recent years, a group of literary festivals came under fire for their ties to companies believed to be linked to oil giants.
In particular, Hay Festival dropped its principal sponsor, Baillie Gifford, back in 2024 following boycotts from speakers and performers over the firm’s links to Israel and fossil fuel companies. Baillie Gifford has been the main sponsor of the festival since 2016.
Shortly after the announcement by Hay, the Edinburgh International Book Festival severed its 20-year funding partnership with Baillie Gifford.
In total, Baillie Gifford cut ties with nine other literary festivals.
According to a spokesperson from Baillie Gifford, the firm was ‘not a significant fossil fuel investor’, with only two per cent of its clients’ money invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels.
