The New York Times has dropped its sponsorship of an oil conference in London next month following pressure from climate activists.
Climate campaigners including Extinction Rebellion held protests outside the newspaper’s Manhattan offices over its sponsorship of the Oil & Money conference.
The event, which is in its 40th year, is due to take place at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane in October, and is expected to attract top executives and policy makers from the energy industry.
The chief executives of BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total are all listed as speakers at the conference, alongside officials from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Opec.
However, The New York Times has decided to scrap its deal with Oil & Money, saying the subject matter of the conference gave it “cause for concern”.
“Over the last several years The [New York] Times has significantly expanded its reporting on climate change and its impact, as well as broader investigative and explanatory coverage of energy and environmental policy,” the firm said in a statement.
“We want there to be no question of our independence or even the potential appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Photo by Stéphan Valentin on Unsplash
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