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

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change dangers” and urged others in the oil and gasoline business to “stroll away whereas there’s nonetheless 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 staff. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she mentioned she had stop due to Shell’s “double-talk on local weather”.

Dennett accused the oil and fuel firm of “operating beyond the design limits of our planetary methods” and “not placing environmental safety earlier than production”.

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

“They know that continued oil and gas 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”, including: “I could not carry that any longer, and I’m ready to deal with the results.”

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

“I can no longer work for a corporation that ignores all of the alarms and dismisses the risks of climate change and ecological collapse,” she stated. “As a result of, contrary to Shell’s public expressions around net zero, they aren't winding down on oil and gas, but planning to explore and extract rather more.”

Dennett – a criminal justice graduate who has spent her career in research and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Riot climate protesters urging the corporate’s workers to depart. The movement’s TruthTeller whistleblowing challenge encourages oil and gasoline employees to walk away from the trade.

The marketing consultant, who runs inside safety surveys and relies in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to be able to stroll away and “many individuals working in fossil gas firms 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 vision for extra oil and fuel extraction secures a protected future for humanity”.

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clear power sector left amid stories they have been frustrated at the pace 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 can be discussed on the meeting the place the Dutch activist group Comply with This may push for the corporate’s insurance policies to be extra per the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has informed traders to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set extra 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 executive, Ben van Beurden, could experience an investor rebellion in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the investment adviser Pirc urged a vote against it.

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A Shell spokesperson said: “Be in little doubt, we are determined to ship on our international strategy to be a internet zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our individuals are working exhausting to achieve this. We now have set targets for the brief, medium and long term, and have each intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon power, although the world will still need oil and gasoline for many years to come back in sectors that can’t be easily decarbonised.”

Shell also faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to household bills after the energy industry reported bumper profits fuelled by the rise in market prices, prompting opposition parties to name on the government to bring in a one-off levy.

On Monday, the most important oil and gasoline producer in the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it could lead to the business approving fewer initiatives.

Harbour Energy’s chief government, Linda Cook, instructed the Financial Occasions: “The next tax burden will make it tougher for brand spanking new oil and gas tasks to meet funding hurdle rates, that means fewer initiatives will probably be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when industry is being encouraged to increase home UK oil and gas production and support an orderly energy transition.”

Harbour has told the government it plans to take a position $6bn within the North Sea over three years as trade makes its case against the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had acquired a £4.6m “golden hello” from the agency.