Two of Britain’s best-loved museums have been forced to defend their financial ties to BP after the company announced this week that it was abandoning its climate targets to focus on growing fossil fuel production.

The British Museum and the Science Museum, which have sponsorship deals with BP, said the company’s decision to grow its investments in oil and gas by cutting back on green spending would not alter their relationship with it.

The two museums have come under fire from campaigners for their ongoing association with the company, which said this week that its optimism in the green transition had been “misplaced” and it would now invest the vast majority of its capital in fossil fuels.