Shell guide quits, accusing agency of ‘excessive harms’ to atmosphere | Shell

A senior security 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 local weather change risks” and urged others within the oil and fuel business to “walk away whereas there’s nonetheless time”.

The executive, who works for the unbiased agency Clout, ended her working relationship with Shell in an open letter to its executives and 1,400 employees. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she stated she had quit because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

Dennett accused the oil and gasoline firm of “working past the design limits of our planetary programs” and “not placing environmental security before manufacturing”.

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

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

Dennett instructed the Guardian she “could not marry these conflicts with my conscience”, adding: “I could not carry that any longer, and I’m able to deal with the consequences.”

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

“I can not work for an organization that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the dangers of local weather change and ecological collapse,” she said. “As a result of, opposite to Shell’s public expressions around net zero, they aren't winding down on oil and fuel, but planning to discover and extract far more.”

Dennett – a legal justice graduate who has spent her career in analysis and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Riot climate protesters urging the company’s staff to depart. The movement’s TruthTeller whistleblowing mission encourages oil and fuel employees to stroll away from the business.

The marketing consultant, who runs internal security surveys and is predicated in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to be able to stroll away and “many individuals working in fossil gas firms simply aren’t so fortunate”.

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

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clean power sector left amid studies they have been annoyed at the tempo 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 will be discussed on the assembly the place the Dutch activist group Comply with It will push for the company’s policies to be extra according to the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has informed traders to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set more stringent climate goals.

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, could experience an investor rise up towards his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the investment adviser Pirc urged a vote towards it.

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A Shell spokesperson stated: “Be in little question, we are decided to ship on our world strategy to be a net zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our people are working onerous to achieve this. We've set targets for the quick, medium and long term, 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 fuel for many years to come back in sectors that may’t be easily decarbonised.”

Shell additionally faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to family payments after the energy industry reported bumper earnings fuelled by the rise in market prices, prompting opposition events to name on the federal government to bring in a one-off levy.

On Monday, the most important oil and fuel producer in the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it would result in the trade approving fewer initiatives.

Harbour Power’s chief government, Linda Cook, advised the Financial Occasions: “The next tax burden will make it tougher for brand new oil and gas projects to satisfy funding hurdle rates, that means fewer tasks will be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when business is being encouraged to extend home UK oil and gas manufacturing and support an orderly power transition.”

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