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

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for local weather change dangers” and urged others within the oil and gasoline 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 stated she had give up due to Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and fuel agency of “operating beyond the design limits of our planetary programs” and “not putting environmental security earlier than production”.

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

“They know that continued oil and gasoline extraction causes excessive harms, to our local weather, to our environment and to individuals. And whatever they are saying, Shell is just not winding down on fossil fuels.”

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

Shell was a “major consumer” of Dennett’s business, which specialises in evaluating security procedures in high-risk industries together with oil and gas production. She began working with Shell within the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which rocked the industry.

“I can no longer work for a corporation that ignores all of the alarms and dismisses the dangers of climate change and ecological collapse,” she stated. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions round internet zero, they are not winding down on oil and gasoline, however planning to explore and extract way more.”

Dennett – a prison justice graduate who has spent her profession in analysis and consultancy – was impressed to stop working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebellion local weather protesters urging the corporate’s employees to leave. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing venture encourages oil and gas staff to stroll away from the trade.

The consultant, who runs internal safety surveys and is predicated in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to have the ability to stroll away and “many individuals working in fossil fuel firms simply aren’t so fortunate”.

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

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clean power sector left amid experiences they were frustrated on the tempo of Shell’s shift towards greener fuels.

Her announcement comes on the eve of Shell’s AGM in London on Tuesday. Its plans to cut back emissions will be mentioned at the meeting where the Dutch activist group Comply with This will push for the company’s policies to be more in line with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has informed traders to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set extra stringent climate targets.

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

The Shell chief executive, Ben van Beurden, might expertise an investor riot in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the investment adviser Pirc urged a vote in opposition to it.

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A Shell spokesperson said: “Be in little doubt, we are decided to deliver on our world technique to be a net zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our individuals are working arduous to attain this. We have now 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 want oil and gasoline for many years to come back in sectors that can’t be easily decarbonised.”

Shell additionally faces the prospect of a potential windfall tax to fund cuts to family payments after the power trade reported bumper income 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 gas producer in the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it would lead to the trade approving fewer initiatives.

Harbour Energy’s chief govt, Linda Cook dinner, told the Financial Occasions: “A higher tax burden will make it more challenging for brand spanking new oil and gas tasks to satisfy investment hurdle charges, meaning fewer projects will be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when business is being inspired to increase home UK oil and gasoline manufacturing and help an orderly vitality 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 towards the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had obtained a £4.6m “golden hiya” from the agency.