More than 150 people occupied London’s Science Museum on Saturday to protest against a new gallery sponsored by part of the Indian conglomerate Adani, which has links to coal mining and arms manufacturing.
The museum has been accused of allowing the Adani Group, the world’s largest private coal miner, to “green” its operations by sponsoring the Energy Revolution: Adani Green Energy gallery. through the renewable energy subsidiary. The new gallery, which opens on Tuesday, highlights how renewable energy can help tackle climate change.
An investigation by research group Culture Unstained, using documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests, revealed that the museum conducted an internal due diligence report that identified alleged cases of corruption and fraud, as well as human rights concerns related to the Adani Group.
On Saturday, the museum’s Energy Hall was filled with 150 black-clad protesters who unfurled a 12-metre banner depicting Adivasis women protesting India’s Adani operations. Adan has been accused of dispossessing people of the indigenous Adivasi community from their ancestral lands.
Protesters also accused Adani of profiting from the war in Gaza through its partnership with Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. Mukti Shah of the South Asian Solidarity Group said: “Adani manufactures drones and guns used to kill and injure Kashmiris and people protesting in India during the genocide against the Palestinians. Adani is displacing the indigenous Adivasi community in India from their land on a large scale. Adani is a minority It funds India’s violent Hindu-supremacist government of Narendra Modi, which is carrying out ethnic cleansing against it. It is shocking and shameful that the Science Museum is helping to green this murderous corporation by accepting its patronage.”
Adani sponsorship was first announced in 2021. It resulted in the resignation of trustees Hannah Fry and Jo Foster and the departure of senior climate scientist and former museum director Chris Rapley from the advisory group. While other cultural institutions have moved away from supporting fossil fuels in recent years, the Science Museum has struck deals with Adani as well as oil companies BP and Equinor.
Scientists have been among those who criticize the protection. Dr Caroline Vincent, from Scientists for Extinction Rebellion, said: “A gallery on renewable energy is something the Science Museum should do, but it’s the choice of the sponsor. The museum’s due diligence on Adan has resulted in huge fines, examples of lawsuits, ongoing criminal investigations, staff conditions revealed bad news and human rights issues. Instead, they chose to meet with Adani Green so they could ignore the initial findings.”
In response to this weekend’s protests, Sir Ian Blatchford, director and chief executive of the Science Museums Group, defended the choice of sponsor. “Engaging our audiences with the science of climate change, the defining challenge of our time, is a key priority for the Science Museum Group,” he said. “Our innovative new gallery will explore how we can achieve the urgent energy transition the world needs to see, a project made possible by the generous backing of Adani Green Energy, a major renewable energy business based in India, which is expected to power one of its largest populations of any country in the world.” demand growth in the coming decades.”
The Adani team was contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, the British Museum closed its doors early Sunday after pro-Palestinian protesters gathered to demonstrate against the museum’s partnership with BP. The group behind the demonstration, a new UK-based collective called Energy Embargo for Palestine, aimed to create links to the conflict in Gaza as part of the protest. He made the reference the news that since the start of the war, Israel has granted offshore gas exploration licenses to six companies, including BP.
