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

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

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change dangers” and urged others within the oil and gas industry to “stroll away whereas there’s still time”.

The chief, who works for the impartial 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 mentioned she had quit due to 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 putting environmental security earlier than production”.

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

“They know that continued oil and fuel extraction causes excessive harms, to our local weather, to our environment and to people. And whatever they say, Shell is solely not winding down on fossil fuels.”

Dennett advised the Guardian she “could not 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 client” of Dennett’s enterprise, which specialises in evaluating security procedures in high-risk industries including oil and gas manufacturing. She started working with Shell within 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 risks of climate change and ecological collapse,” she mentioned. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions around net zero, they don't seem to be winding down on oil and fuel, however planning to discover and extract much more.”

Dennett – a criminal justice graduate who has spent her profession in research and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Insurrection climate protesters urging the company’s employees to leave. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing project encourages oil and gasoline staff to stroll away from the trade.

The marketing consultant, who runs internal safety surveys and is predicated in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to be able to walk away and “many people working in fossil gasoline firms simply aren’t so lucky”.

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

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clean energy sector left amid studies they have been frustrated on 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 cut back emissions will likely be discussed at the meeting the place the Dutch activist group Comply with This may push for the company’s insurance policies to be extra consistent with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has advised buyers to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set extra stringent local weather objectives.

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 revolt towards his £13.5m pay packet on the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote against it.

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A Shell spokesperson stated: “Be in little doubt, we are decided to deliver on our world strategy to be a internet zero company by 2050 and thousands of our people are working laborious to attain this. We've 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 energy, though the world will still want oil and gas for decades to come in sectors that can’t be simply decarbonised.”

Shell additionally faces the prospect of a potential windfall tax to fund cuts to household bills after the power industry reported bumper earnings fuelled by the rise in market prices, prompting opposition parties to call on the government to herald a one-off levy.

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

Harbour Vitality’s chief executive, Linda Cook, advised the Monetary Occasions: “The next tax burden will make it more difficult for new oil and gasoline projects to meet investment hurdle charges, meaning fewer tasks can be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when business is being inspired to extend home UK oil and gasoline production and assist an orderly power transition.”

Harbour has informed the 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 had obtained a £4.6m “golden good day” from the firm.