Don't 'demonise and ostracise' us in climate change debate, says BP

The head of BP in the UK and Europe has told Sky News he is "disappointed" arts institutions including the Royal Shakespeare Company have ended their partnership with the oil giant.

Peter Mather said it was wrong to "demonise and ostracise" BP from the debate over climate change as the firm could be "very much part of the solution and part of the future".

It comes as climate protesters from the group BP Or Not BP blocked a VIP reception at the BP-sponsored Troy exhibition at the British Museum.

The protesters, who posed as living statues and doused themselves in oil, told Sky News they were protesting because "BP sponsorship is something the British Museum should be deeply ashamed of".

They said oil and gas companies must be untouchable for all cultural institutions and they would not stop protesting until all have severed links with them.

Danny from the protest group said: "Four institutions this year ended their deals with oil companies because they recognise in the middle of a climate crisis - it's not appropriate for an art intuition to be actively promoting a fossil fuel company".

Their efforts have borne fruit in recent years, as the Tate and the Edinburgh International Festival have ended their links to the firm, while last month, the Royal Shakespeare Company severed its ties.

When asked if there would be a point when the negative publicity BP was receiving for sponsoring arts institutions would outweigh the benefits for the company, Mr Mather said: "I hope not.

"I like to think of this as an active debate. The difference in a way between companies like mine, where the British government is, where many governments are and where some of the climate activists are is only a period of 25 years."

When we put it to him those 25 years would be make or break and could make all the difference in terms of climate change, he replied: "You're absolutely right.

"I think it's really important that we do get a sense of urgency... We have to start now as we are but we need to do more."

Jess Worth, co-director of Culture Unstained, which campaigns to end oil sponsorship of arts institutions, said companies like BP need to be denied their "social licence", or "the permission that we as a society give to BP to continue extracting fossil fuels".

That licence, she said, is "obtained through arts sponsorship, sports sponsorship, schools and that's absolutely vital to allow BP to operate as it has been".

Hartwig Fischer, head of the British Museum, said it had no plans to end its links to BP.

"Severing ties with BP is not a contribution to solving the climate problem solution and we think offering here at the museum opportunities to engage with these questions is a more appropriate contribution to the debate which obviously aims at solving a problem that we all face," he said.