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

A senior security guide has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the environment.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others within the oil and gas business to “stroll away whereas there’s nonetheless 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 staff. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she stated she had stop because of Shell’s “double-talk on local weather”.

Dennett accused the oil and gasoline agency of “operating beyond the design limits of our planetary techniques” and “not placing environmental security before production”.

She mentioned: “Shell’s acknowledged security ambition is to ‘do no harm’ – ‘Goal Zero’, they call it – and it sounds honourable however they are utterly failing on it.

“They know that continued oil and fuel extraction causes excessive harms, to our climate, to the environment 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”, including: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m ready to deal with the results.”

Shell was a “main shopper” of Dennett’s enterprise, which specialises in evaluating safety 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 business.

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

Dennett – a prison justice graduate who has spent her profession in analysis and consultancy – was inspired to stop working with Shell after watching news footage of Extinction Revolt climate protesters urging the company’s staff to leave. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing project encourages oil and fuel workers to stroll away from the trade.

The advisor, who runs internal security surveys and is predicated in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to have the ability to walk away and “many people working in fossil fuel corporations just aren’t so fortunate”.

She urged Shell’s executives to “look in the mirror and ask themselves in the event that they actually imagine their vision for extra oil and gas extraction secures a safe future for humanity”.

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clear power sector left amid reviews they have been 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 shall be discussed on the assembly where the Dutch activist group Observe This will push for the company’s policies to be more in line with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has instructed investors to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set more stringent climate goals.

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

The Shell chief government, Ben van Beurden, could expertise an investor insurrection towards his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote against 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 company by 2050 and hundreds of our individuals are working arduous to achieve this. We've got set targets for the brief, medium and long run, and have each intention of hitting them.

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

Shell additionally faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to family bills after the vitality industry reported bumper income fuelled by the increase in market prices, prompting opposition parties to name on the federal government to bring in a one-off levy.

On Monday, the most important oil and gas producer within the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it might result in the industry approving fewer tasks.

Harbour Energy’s chief executive, Linda Cook, instructed the Financial Times: “The next tax burden will make it more difficult for brand spanking new oil and fuel projects to meet funding hurdle rates, which means fewer tasks will probably be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when industry is being inspired to extend home UK oil and fuel production and assist an orderly power transition.”

Harbour has told the government it plans to invest $6bn within the North Sea over three years as business makes its case against the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had received a £4.6m “golden howdy” from the firm.