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

A senior safety consultant has stop working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the atmosphere.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change dangers” and urged others within the oil and fuel trade to “walk away while there’s still 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 mentioned she had quit due to Shell’s “double-talk on local weather”.

Dennett accused the oil and fuel agency of “working past the design limits of our planetary systems” and “not putting environmental safety before manufacturing”.

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

“They know that continued oil and gasoline extraction causes excessive harms, to our local weather, to our surroundings and to folks. And whatever they say, Shell is simply not winding down on fossil fuels.”

Dennett instructed the Guardian she “couldn't marry these conflicts with my conscience”, including: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m able to cope with the consequences.”

Shell was a “major client” of Dennett’s enterprise, which specialises in evaluating safety procedures in high-risk industries including oil and gas manufacturing. She began working with Shell within the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which rocked the industry.

“I can no longer work for a company that ignores all of the alarms and dismisses the risks of climate change and ecological collapse,” she said. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions around web zero, they aren't winding down on oil and gas, but planning to explore and extract much more.”

Dennett – a criminal justice graduate who has spent her career in analysis and consultancy – was inspired to cease working with Shell after watching news footage of Extinction Riot local weather protesters urging the corporate’s staff to go away. The movement’s TruthTeller whistleblowing venture encourages oil and gas employees to walk away from the business.

The guide, who runs inside security surveys and relies 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 lucky”.

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

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clean energy sector left amid experiences they had been pissed off on 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 scale back emissions will likely be discussed on the meeting the place the Dutch activist group Comply with It will push for the corporate’s policies to be more in step with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has informed 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 agency’s climate transition proposals.

The Shell chief government, Ben van Beurden, could experience an investor insurrection 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 deliver on our international technique to be a net zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our persons are working arduous to realize this. We've got set targets for the quick, 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 need oil and fuel for many years to come in sectors that may’t be easily decarbonised.”

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

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

Harbour Vitality’s chief government, Linda Cook, informed the Financial Times: “The next tax burden will make it tougher for brand new oil and gas initiatives to satisfy funding hurdle charges, that means fewer tasks will likely be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when business is being encouraged to extend home UK oil and fuel production and help an orderly energy transition.”

Harbour has advised the federal 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 received a £4.6m “golden hiya” from the firm.