industry

National Theatre to end Shell sponsorship deal from next year


The National Theatre has announced it will end its partnership with Shell next year, as the arts organisation accelerated plans to make itself carbon neutral in the face of a climate emergency.

Shell is listed as one of the theatre’s corporate Gold members, with prices for this band of membership starting at £15,000 a year. Its other corporate members include the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the investment firm Goldman Sachs.

Previously, the fossil fuel company sponsored the annual youth theatre festival at the venue. Founded in 1995, the festival was sponsored by Shell until 2007 when the Bank of America took over the sponsorship.

The decision comes as opposition to fossil fuel companies’ sponsorship of many of the UK’s leading cultural institutions continues to grow.

Earlier this week, the Royal Shakespeare Company announced that after months of deliberations it had decided to curtail its eight-year relationship with BP, following increasing pressure from artists, young people and environmental campaigners.

The National Theatre said it had begun to scrutinise every aspect of its operation and due to the scale of the change required it needed to act immediately in order to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the Paris agreement.

The theatre said it would be focusing on setting “ambitious targets to move towards net carbon zero on site”. It said it had already reduced energy, waste, water and carbon impact by 25% since 2016.

“Shell have been valued and longstanding supporters of the National Theatre, most recently as corporate members – this membership will come to an end in June 2020,” it said.

“We create work that is inherently temporary; that makes use of raw materials, of heat, light and sound; that asks people to travel to a particular location at a particular time. However, we believe theatre can be part of the solution – we tell stories, shape culture and encourage empathy and understanding” a spokesperson added.

A Shell spokesperson confirmed its membership of the theatre would cease next year.

“The heightened awareness of climate change that we have seen over recent months is a good thing. As a company, we agree that urgent action is needed. What will really accelerate change is effective policy, investment in technology innovation and deployment, and changing customer behaviour.

“As we move to a lower-carbon future, we are committed to playing our part, by addressing our own emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs – because we all have a role to play”, he added.

Mel Evans, a senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, welcomed the decision.

She said: “This week the world of big oil sponsorships has seen more break-ups than an episode of Love Island. The curtains are coming down fast on this long-running farce where the joke is ultimately on all of us.

“As the impacts of the climate emergency play out all around the world, the reputational damage of being associated with the industry fuelling the problem far outweighs any financial benefit. It’s time for oil giants to get the moral of the story, ditch a business model that’s destroying our world, and shift to renewable energy.”



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