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

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others within the oil and gasoline industry to “walk away while there’s still time”.

The chief, who works for the impartial company Clout, ended her working relationship with Shell in an open letter to its executives and 1,400 workers. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she stated she had quit because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and fuel agency of “working past the design limits of our planetary programs” and “not putting environmental safety before manufacturing”.

She said: “Shell’s stated security ambition is to ‘do no hurt’ – ‘Objective Zero’, they name it – and it sounds honourable however they're completely failing on it.

“They know that continued oil and gasoline extraction causes extreme harms, to our climate, to our surroundings and to folks. And whatever they are saying, Shell is simply not winding down on fossil fuels.”

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

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

“I can not work for an organization that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the risks of climate change and ecological collapse,” she mentioned. “Because, contrary to Shell’s public expressions around web zero, they don't seem to be winding down on oil and fuel, but planning to explore and extract much more.”

Dennett – a prison justice graduate who has spent her profession in research and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Riot local weather protesters urging the corporate’s employees to go away. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing venture encourages oil and fuel workers to walk away from the business.

The consultant, who runs inside security surveys and is based in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to have the ability to stroll away and “many individuals working in fossil gasoline companies just aren’t so fortunate”.

She urged Shell’s executives to “look within the mirror and ask themselves in the event that they really consider their imaginative and prescient for extra oil and gasoline extraction secures a protected future for humanity”.

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clear vitality sector left amid studies they have been frustrated on the pace of Shell’s shift in direction of greener fuels.

Her announcement comes on the eve of Shell’s AGM in London on Tuesday. Its plans to scale back emissions shall be discussed at the meeting where the Dutch activist group Follow This will push for the company’s insurance policies to be more consistent with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has informed traders to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set more stringent climate goals.

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

The Shell chief government, Ben van Beurden, could experience an investor rebel 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 said: “Be in no doubt, we are determined to deliver on our international technique to be a net zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our people are working arduous to attain this. We have now set targets for the short, medium and long term, and have each intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon vitality, although the world will nonetheless need oil and fuel for decades to come back in sectors that can’t be simply decarbonised.”

Shell additionally faces the prospect of a potential windfall tax to fund cuts to household payments after the power trade reported bumper income fuelled by the rise in market costs, prompting opposition parties to name on the federal government to herald a one-off levy.

On Monday, the most important oil and gas producer in the North Sea spoke out against a one-off levy, arguing it would lead to the business approving fewer tasks.

Harbour Energy’s chief executive, Linda Prepare dinner, informed the Monetary Times: “A higher tax burden will make it more challenging for brand spanking new oil and fuel initiatives to fulfill investment hurdle charges, which means fewer tasks will likely be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when business is being inspired to extend home UK oil and fuel production and help an orderly energy transition.”

Harbour has informed the government it plans to take a position $6bn within the North Sea over three years as industry makes its case in opposition to the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Cook had obtained a £4.6m “golden hi there” from the firm.