Shell consultant quits, accusing agency of ‘extreme harms’ to atmosphere | Shell

A senior safety advisor has give up working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil gas producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the surroundings.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change dangers” and urged others in the oil and fuel business to “walk away whereas there’s still time”.

The executive, 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 stop because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

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

She said: “Shell’s stated safety ambition is to ‘do no harm’ – ‘Purpose Zero’, they call it – and it sounds honourable but they're fully failing on it.

“They know that continued oil and gas extraction causes extreme harms, to our climate, to the environment and to people. And no matter they say, Shell is simply not winding down on fossil fuels.”

Dennett instructed the Guardian she “could not marry these conflicts with my conscience”, including: “I couldn't carry that any longer, and I’m able to take care of the results.”

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

“I can no longer work for a corporation that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the dangers of climate change and ecological collapse,” she stated. “As a result of, opposite to Shell’s public expressions round net zero, they aren't winding down on oil and fuel, however planning to explore and extract way more.”

Dennett – a prison justice graduate who has spent her career in analysis and consultancy – was inspired to stop working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebel local weather protesters urging the company’s workers to depart. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing undertaking encourages oil and gasoline workers to walk away from the industry.

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

She urged Shell’s executives to “look within the mirror and ask themselves if they actually consider their vision for extra oil and gasoline extraction secures a protected future for humanity”.

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clean vitality sector left amid studies they were annoyed at the pace 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 will be mentioned at the assembly where the Dutch activist group Follow This will push for the company’s insurance policies to be more in step with the Paris local weather accord. Shell’s board has informed traders to reject the group’s decision that asks it to set extra stringent climate targets.

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

The Shell chief executive, Ben van Beurden, could expertise an investor riot in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote towards it.

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A Shell spokesperson said: “Be in no doubt, we are determined to ship on our international strategy to be a internet zero firm by 2050 and thousands of our individuals are working arduous to realize this. We've got set targets for the quick, medium and long run, and have every intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy, although the world will still need oil and fuel for decades to come in sectors that can’t be simply decarbonised.”

Shell also faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to household bills after the energy business reported bumper profits fuelled by the rise in market costs, prompting opposition parties to call on the government to bring in a one-off levy.

On Monday, the biggest oil and fuel producer within the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it would lead to the business approving fewer tasks.

Harbour Vitality’s chief executive, Linda Cook, advised the Financial Occasions: “A better tax burden will make it more difficult for brand new oil and gas initiatives to satisfy investment hurdle rates, that means fewer tasks can be sanctioned.

“That is at a time when trade is being inspired to extend domestic UK oil and gas manufacturing and assist an orderly power transition.”

Harbour has informed the government it plans to invest $6bn in the North Sea over three years as industry makes its case towards the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Cook dinner had received a £4.6m “golden hello” from the agency.