British Cycling’s partnership with Shell is “controversial” but could help persuade the oil giant to look at its environmental policies, says Sir Chris Hoy.
British Cycling announced the eight-year sponsorship deal on Monday but received widespread criticism.
Hoy said it could allow British Cycling to “have a voice in an organisation”.
He added: “If you can get them to change their policy even slightly, than that’s a positive thing.”
The deal with Shell comes after British Cycling’s partnership with bank HSBC finished at the end of 2021 and includes initiatives to make cycling more accessible for disabled people and target a ‘net-zero’ status.
But environmental campaigners say the “disappointing” move is “cynical PR” to improve Shell’s reputation.
An open letter has also been sent, asking the organisation to “renounce” the new partnership.
British Cycling was also accused of getting involved with “greenwashing”.
“It’s not just about elite sport,” six-time Olympic champion Hoy told BBC Sport.
“It’s about representing the views of the entire membership and putting cycling on the agenda with a massive corporation like Shell.
“And if you can get them to change their policy even slightly, than that’s a positive thing.”
Speaking at the Track World Championships in France, Hoy echoed the surprise of many fans but said British Cycling is under pressure to secure the future of the sport.
“It’s not unfair to say that it was a controversial partnership to announce,” he said.
“Most people were quite surprised at a cycling federation aligning with a global corporation in the oil industry – you wouldn’t think those two sit side by side.
“But you put yourself in the British Cycling management position, they need to get a sponsor, they need to have a partner and in the current climate, trying to find a major sponsor for one year, let alone eight years, is a significant challenge.
“It will be interesting to speak to the management to see what they have to say but I guess a lot of the chatter has been ‘well, you know what, if you want to make changes, it’s better to be on the inside’.
“To have a voice in an organisation, to make them hear your opinions about what you want to do with your sport.”
More than 700 organisations and individuals signed the open letter asking British Cycling to “consider immediate action to renounce sponsorship from Shell”, calling the deal with the “oil company” an “irreconcilable conflict of interest”.
In a response, Shell said: “We agree that society needs to take urgent action on climate change. Shell has a clear target to become a net-zero emissions business by 2050.
“We are also deeply committed to the UK and are planning to invest between £20-25bn in the UK energy system over the next decade – more than 75% of this will be in low and zero-carbon products and services, including offshore wind, hydrogen and electric mobility.”
British Cycling has yet to comment in response to the open letter.
