Description
The Naturalis Biodiversity Center, a Dutch museum and research center, has ended its collaboration with Shell and KLM in January 2023. It is the first institution in the Netherlands to publicly cut ties, as other museums did so in silence.
Naturalis worked with Shell to study biodiversity under the solar panels designed to provide clean power to the Shell Moerdijk chemical industry. Naturalis also collaborated with KLM Cargo. Those projects have been ended, as of 2023, marking a complete cut with the fossil fuel and aviation industry.
Edwin van Huis, director of Naturalis, said: "Look at the news: Shell has now made record profits again. The big money is going to shareholders; we don't see a genuine effort to make the transition as quickly as possible, as they do say in the publicity. At some point, as an institution, you have to find the balance. Should we help companies with the energy transition? Yes, if they really go for it. But Shell doesn't. At some point you cross a line, and say: we have to stop."
