British Cycling has signed a long-term partnership that will see wide-ranging support and investment from Shell UK as a new official partner of the national governing body. The agreement starts this month and runs to the end of 2030.
However, the move by British Cycling has been condemned by a number of environmental groups, citing it as ‘sportswashing’ or ‘greenwashing’.
Greenpeace UK Policy Director, Dr Doug Parr, said “After being booted out of museums and other cultural institutions, Big Oil is looking at sports as the next frontier for their brazen greenwash. But their aim hasn’t changed – to distract from the inconvenient fact that the fossil fuel industry is making our planet uninhabitable.”
Green Party Culture Spokesperson, Jack Lenox, said “British Cycling’s decision to accept a massive sponsorship deal from Shell is stupefying. How can an organisation centred around great feats of human-powered endeavour think it’s acceptable for their brand to be used to launder the public image of an enormous fossil fuel company?”
According to British Cycling, the new partnership will see Shell UK… ‘supporting Great Britain’s cyclists and para-cyclists through the sharing of world-class innovation and expertise; accelerating British Cycling’s path to net zero; and helping more – and wider groups of – people to ride, including ways to make cycling more accessible for disabled people.’
Brian Facer, CEO of British Cycling, said “We’re looking forward to working alongside Shell UK over the rest of this decade to widen access to the sport, support our elite riders and help our organisation and sport take important steps towards net zero – things we know our members are incredibly passionate about.
“Within our new commercial programme, this partnership with Shell UK brings powerful support for cycling, will help us to improve and will make more people consider cycling and cyclists.”
David Bunch, Shell UK Country Chair, said “We’re very proud to become an Official Partner to British Cycling. The partnership reflects the shared ambitions of Shell UK and British Cycling to get to net zero in the UK as well as encouraging low and zero-carbon forms of transport such as cycling and electric vehicles.
“Working together we can deliver real change for people right across the country, from different walks of life, and also apply Shell’s world-leading lubricant technology to support the Great Britain Cycling Team in their quest for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The agreement includes specific investment from Shell UK to support a new programme – to be named Limitless – which aims to break down the barriers disabled people face when accessing cycling.
Despite a positive spin being put on the new sponsorship, some British Cycling members have vented their anger on social media calling on members of the governing body to cancel their memberships.
