Shell guide quits, accusing agency of ‘extreme harms’ to surroundings | Shell

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others within the oil and fuel industry to “walk away whereas there’s nonetheless time”.

The chief, 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 said she had give up because of Shell’s “double-talk on local weather”.

Dennett accused the oil and gasoline firm of “working beyond the design limits of our planetary techniques” and “not putting environmental safety before manufacturing”.

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

“They know that continued oil and gasoline 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 told the Guardian she “could not marry these conflicts with my conscience”, including: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m ready to take care of the consequences.”

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

“I can not work for a corporation that ignores all of 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 gas, but planning to discover and extract way more.”

Dennett – a legal justice graduate who has spent her profession in research and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebellion climate protesters urging the company’s staff to depart. The movement’s TruthTeller whistleblowing venture encourages oil and gasoline staff 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 fuel corporations simply aren’t so fortunate”.

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

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clean energy sector left amid reports they had been pissed off at 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 reduce emissions can be discussed at the meeting the place the Dutch activist group Observe This can push for the corporate’s insurance policies to be more per the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has told buyers to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set extra stringent climate objectives.

The Shell investor Royal London has said 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 rebel against his £13.5m pay packet on the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote in opposition to it.

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A Shell spokesperson said: “Be in no doubt, we're determined to ship on our world technique to be a internet zero company by 2050 and thousands of our persons are working exhausting to realize this. We have now 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 nonetheless want oil and gasoline for many years to come in sectors that may’t be simply decarbonised.”

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

On Monday, the biggest oil and fuel producer in the North Sea spoke out against a one-off levy, arguing it will lead to the industry approving fewer initiatives.

Harbour Power’s chief govt, Linda Cook dinner, told the Financial Instances: “A higher tax burden will make it more difficult for brand spanking new oil and gasoline projects to satisfy funding hurdle rates, which means fewer initiatives will be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when business is being inspired to increase domestic UK oil and fuel manufacturing and support an orderly energy transition.”

Harbour has informed the federal government it plans to speculate $6bn within the North Sea over three years as business makes its case towards the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Cook dinner had acquired a £4.6m “golden howdy” from the firm.