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"We respect the public's right to protest": British Cycling addresses Extinction Rebellion protest over Shell deal

Activists from the group also targeted Ineos' London headquarters yesterday...

British Cycling says it "respects the public's right to protest" but insists the partnership with Shell will bring "benefits" after Extinction Rebellion activists scaled the National Cycling Centre in Manchester and displayed banners criticising the governing body's deal with the oil and gas giants.

Dani Every — British Cycling's Acting CEO who stepped in after Brian Facer walked away from the role a month after the controversial deal with Shell UK was announced — said the governing body had "worked to engage with and listen to those within our sport and more widely on the benefits that our partnership".

In a statement, Every said:

We respect the public's right to protest and have worked to engage with and listen to those within our sport and more widely on the benefits that our partnership with Shell UK will bring.

The eight-year partnership will see a long-term, shared commitment to: 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 delivering ways to make cycling more accessible for disabled people

 On Sunday two Extinction Rebellion Midlands protesters were seen displaying a 'Get Shell out of British Cycling' banner above the entrance to the National Cycling Centre.

> British Cycling and Shell: How HSBC pulling plug and COVID-19 hit governing body's finances

British Cycling did not comment on the protest group's accusation that the governing body was "taking their AGM online" due to the "likelihood of vocal opposition".

Extinction Rebellion also hosted a Critical Mass Ride which was held on Sunday morning in Birmingham to demand Shell get "out of British Cycling".

As British Cycling yesterday prepared its response, Extinction Rebellion targeted another company with a familiar name to cycling fans, spraying Ineos' London headquarters with black paint and displaying a banner reading 'Ineos = plastic = death'.

 The multinational chemicals company sponsors a host of professional sports teams, including the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team and French football team Nice, but have attracted greenwashing accusations for investing time and money in sport to improve its image.

Ineos Grenadiers' first race under the petrochemical conglomerate's banner, the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire, was met with protests by anti-fracking campaigners, many wearing masks of Ineos' owner and CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Then, in December 2020, four arrests were made as the team's vehicles were vandalised by environmental campaigners in Belgium. The attack on the team's service course saw 'Ineos will fall' graffitied on some vehicles and others wrapped in tinfoil. 

According to environmental organisation ClientEarth, Ineos produced 22.8 million tonnes of petrochemicals in 2020, its largest facility, in Grangemouth in Scotland, emitting over 3.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019.

Ineos says, in its 'sustainability book', it is aiming to cut energy use, reuse waste energy and to use lower carbon sources of energy in its production process, as well as expressing a commitment to "developing roadmaps to deliver net zero emissions across all of our operations by 2050".

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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13 comments

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brooksby | 1 year ago
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GMBasix | 1 year ago
5 likes

Even assuming the claims of the benefits of the Shell association are unassailably true, the reputational and moral costs of achieving them are regarded by many as unacceptable.

British Cycling: listen to the playback; when you're tone deaf, stop singing.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to GMBasix | 1 year ago
6 likes

Not so much that, more they're singing to someone else's hymn-sheet now...

Avatar
GMBasix replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Well, that is the morality of which I speak.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to GMBasix | 1 year ago
6 likes
GMBasix wrote:

Even assuming the claims of the benefits of the Shell association are unassailably true, the reputational and moral costs of achieving them are regarded by many as unacceptable.

British Cycling: listen to the playback; when you're tone deaf, stop singing.

They're not tone deaf, they just can't hear anything over the sound of the oil money

Avatar
GMBasix replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes

Sorry, what did you say? I was busy counting my old Esso tokens.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to GMBasix | 1 year ago
2 likes
GMBasix wrote:

Sorry, what did you say? I was busy counting my old Esso tokens.

I've just traded in my extensive pile of Green Shield stamps for some Twitter shares

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
2 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:
GMBasix wrote:

Sorry, what did you say? I was busy counting my old Esso tokens.

I've just traded in my extensive pile of Green Shield stamps for some Twitter shares

So now you're the majority shareholder?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
1 like
eburtthebike wrote:
hawkinspeter wrote:

I've just traded in my extensive pile of Green Shield stamps for some Twitter shares

So now you're the majority shareholder?

Yeah and now I keep getting Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia on the phone asking for his money back

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:
eburtthebike wrote:
hawkinspeter wrote:

I've just traded in my extensive pile of Green Shield stamps for some Twitter shares

So now you're the majority shareholder?

Yeah and now I keep getting Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia on the phone asking for his money back

Was it in a carrier bag?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:
hawkinspeter wrote:

Yeah and now I keep getting Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia on the phone asking for his money back

Was it in a carrier bag?

What, the phone?

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

The money from the Prince. I gather that's the delivery method of choice for Middle Eastern millionaires nowadays...  You can ask our King.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

The money from the Prince. I gather that's the delivery method of choice for Middle Eastern millionaires nowadays...  You can ask our King.

I never saw the money. He claims that as a shareholder, I owe him his loan money back

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