Shell consultant quits, accusing agency of ‘excessive harms’ to environment | Shell

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change dangers” and urged others in the oil and gas trade to “stroll away while there’s still time”.

The manager, who works for the independent agency 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 mentioned she had give up because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and gasoline agency of “working past the design limits of our planetary systems” and “not putting environmental security before manufacturing”.

She mentioned: “Shell’s said safety ambition is to ‘do no hurt’ – ‘Purpose Zero’, they name it – and it sounds honourable but they're completely failing on it.

“They know that continued oil and fuel extraction causes extreme harms, to our local weather, to our environment and to individuals. And no matter they are saying, Shell is solely not winding down on fossil fuels.”

Dennett told the Guardian she “couldn't marry these conflicts with my conscience”, adding: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m ready to take care of the results.”

Shell was a “main shopper” of Dennett’s enterprise, which specialises in evaluating security procedures in high-risk industries including oil and fuel production. She started working with Shell within the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which rocked the trade.

“I can not work for an organization that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the dangers of climate change and ecological collapse,” she said. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions around net zero, they aren't winding down on oil and gasoline, however planning to explore and extract much more.”

Dennett – a felony justice graduate who has spent her career in research and consultancy – was impressed to stop working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebel climate protesters urging the corporate’s workers to go away. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing venture encourages oil and gas employees to walk away from the trade.

The marketing consultant, who runs internal safety surveys and is predicated in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to be able to walk away and “many individuals working in fossil gas corporations just aren’t so fortunate”.

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

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clean power sector left amid reviews they had been pissed off 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 will probably be discussed on the assembly where the Dutch activist group Follow This can push for the corporate’s insurance policies to be more in step with the Paris local weather accord. Shell’s board has informed buyers to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set more stringent climate targets.

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

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

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A Shell spokesperson mentioned: “Be in no doubt, we're decided to deliver on our global strategy to be a net zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our people are working laborious to realize this. We have set targets for the quick, medium and long term, and have every intention of hitting them.

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

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

On Monday, the biggest oil and gasoline producer in the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it would result in the business approving fewer projects.

Harbour Energy’s chief govt, Linda Cook, informed the Monetary Occasions: “A higher tax burden will make it tougher for new oil and gasoline initiatives to meet investment hurdle charges, meaning fewer projects will probably be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when trade is being encouraged to increase domestic UK oil and gasoline manufacturing and help an orderly power transition.”

Harbour has informed the government it plans to take a position $6bn in the North Sea over three years as business makes its case towards the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had obtained a £4.6m “golden hello” from the firm.