Shell consultant quits, accusing firm of ‘extreme harms’ to atmosphere | Shell

A senior security marketing consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil gasoline producer in a bombshell public video of inflicting “extreme harms” to the surroundings.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for local weather change risks” and urged others in the oil and fuel industry to “stroll away while there’s still time”.

The chief, who works for the unbiased agency Clout, ended her working relationship with Shell in an open letter to its executives and 1,400 staff. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she mentioned she had quit due to Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and fuel agency of “operating beyond the design limits of our planetary techniques” and “not putting environmental safety before production”.

She mentioned: “Shell’s said safety ambition is to ‘do no hurt’ – ‘Objective Zero’, they name it – and it sounds honourable however they are utterly failing on it.

“They know that continued oil and fuel extraction causes extreme harms, to our climate, to the environment and to people. And no matter they say, Shell is simply not winding down on fossil fuels.”

Dennett informed the Guardian she “couldn't marry these conflicts with my conscience”, adding: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m able to deal with the results.”

Shell was a “main client” of Dennett’s business, which specialises in evaluating safety procedures in high-risk industries including oil and gasoline manufacturing. She began working with Shell within the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which rocked the business.

“I can no longer work for a corporation that ignores all of the alarms and dismisses the risks of local weather change and ecological collapse,” she mentioned. “Because, contrary to Shell’s public expressions round internet zero, they aren't winding down on oil and fuel, but planning to explore and extract rather more.”

Dennett – a criminal justice graduate who has spent her profession in research and consultancy – was inspired to stop working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebel local weather protesters urging the company’s staff to go away. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing challenge encourages oil and gasoline workers to walk away from the business.

The advisor, who runs inside safety surveys and relies in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to be able to walk away and “many people working in fossil gas companies just aren’t so fortunate”.

She urged Shell’s executives to “look within the mirror and ask themselves if they really consider their vision for more oil and gas extraction secures a secure future for humanity”.

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clear power sector left amid stories they had been annoyed on the pace of Shell’s shift in the direction of greener fuels.

Her announcement comes on the eve of Shell’s AGM in London on Tuesday. Its plans to scale back emissions can be discussed at the meeting the place the Dutch activist group Observe This may push for the company’s insurance policies to be extra according to the Paris local weather accord. Shell’s board has instructed traders to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set extra stringent climate goals.

The Shell investor Royal London has said it intends to abstain on a vote on the agency’s local weather transition proposals.

The Shell chief executive, Ben van Beurden, could experience an investor rise up in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote towards it.

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A Shell spokesperson mentioned: “Be in little question, we are decided to deliver on our world technique to be a net zero company by 2050 and thousands of our people are working laborious to realize this. Now we have set targets for the quick, medium and long run, and have every intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy, although the world will still need oil and fuel for many years to come in sectors that may’t be simply decarbonised.”

Shell also faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to household bills after the power trade reported bumper profits fuelled by the increase in market prices, prompting opposition events to name on the federal government to herald a one-off levy.

On Monday, the largest oil and fuel producer within the North Sea spoke out in opposition to a one-off levy, arguing it might lead to the business approving fewer initiatives.

Harbour Vitality’s chief govt, Linda Prepare dinner, informed the Financial Occasions: “A better tax burden will make it more challenging for brand spanking new oil and gasoline tasks to satisfy funding hurdle rates, that means fewer tasks will probably be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when business is being inspired to extend domestic UK oil and fuel manufacturing and support an orderly vitality transition.”

Harbour has advised the government it plans to speculate $6bn within the North Sea over three years as industry makes its case towards the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had obtained a £4.6m “golden good day” from the firm.