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

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others within the oil and gas 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 workers. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she said she had quit because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and gas firm of “operating past the design limits of our planetary techniques” and “not putting environmental safety earlier than production”.

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

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

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

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

“I can now not work for a corporation that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the dangers of climate change and ecological collapse,” she mentioned. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions around web zero, they aren't winding down on oil and gas, however planning to discover and extract way more.”

Dennett – a felony justice graduate who has spent her profession in analysis and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching news footage of Extinction Rebel local weather protesters urging the corporate’s staff to depart. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing project encourages oil and fuel workers to stroll away from the business.

The 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 gasoline firms simply aren’t so lucky”.

She urged Shell’s executives to “look in the mirror and ask themselves in the event that they really believe their vision for extra oil and fuel extraction secures a secure future for humanity”.

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clean vitality sector left amid stories they have been pissed off at 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 reduce emissions might be mentioned on the meeting where the Dutch activist group Comply with This can push for the company’s insurance policies to be more consistent with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has instructed traders to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set more stringent local weather targets.

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

The Shell chief government, Ben van Beurden, might expertise an investor insurrection against 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 stated: “Be in little doubt, we're decided to deliver on our international technique to be a web zero firm by 2050 and hundreds of our individuals are working arduous to achieve this. We now have set targets for the short, medium and long term, and have every intention of hitting them.

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

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

On Monday, the biggest oil and gas producer within the North Sea spoke out against a one-off levy, arguing it could lead to the industry approving fewer projects.

Harbour Energy’s chief govt, Linda Cook dinner, told the Financial Times: “A higher tax burden will make it more difficult for brand new oil and gasoline tasks to fulfill investment hurdle charges, meaning fewer projects shall be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when business is being encouraged to extend domestic UK oil and gasoline manufacturing and help an orderly energy transition.”

Harbour has instructed the federal government it plans to speculate $6bn within the North Sea over three years as industry makes its case in opposition to the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had acquired a £4.6m “golden whats up” from the firm.