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

A senior security marketing consultant 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 gas business to “stroll away while there’s still time”.

The manager, who works for the unbiased agency Clout, ended her working relationship with Shell in an open letter to its executives and 1,400 workers. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she mentioned she had give up because of Shell’s “double-talk on local weather”.

Dennett accused the oil and gas agency of “working past the design limits of our planetary techniques” and “not placing environmental security before production”.

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

“They know that continued oil and fuel extraction causes extreme harms, to our climate, to our surroundings and to folks. And whatever they are saying, Shell is solely not winding down on fossil fuels.”

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

Shell was a “major consumer” of Dennett’s business, which specialises in evaluating security procedures in high-risk industries including oil and fuel production. She began working with Shell in the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, which rocked the business.

“I can now not work for a company that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the dangers of climate change and ecological collapse,” she said. “As a result of, contrary to Shell’s public expressions around net zero, they aren't winding down on oil and gasoline, but planning to discover and extract rather more.”

Dennett – a criminal justice graduate who has spent her career in research and consultancy – was impressed to stop working with Shell after watching information footage of Extinction Rebel climate protesters urging the corporate’s workers to go away. The movement’s TruthTeller whistleblowing challenge encourages oil and gasoline workers to stroll away from the industry.

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

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

In late 2020, a number of Shell executives in its clear energy sector left amid experiences they have been pissed off at the tempo of Shell’s shift towards greener fuels.

Her announcement comes on the eve of Shell’s AGM in London on Tuesday. Its plans to scale back emissions might be discussed on the meeting where the Dutch activist group Observe This may push for the corporate’s policies to be more consistent with the Paris climate accord. Shell’s board has told buyers to reject the group’s resolution that asks it to set extra stringent local weather 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 govt, Ben van Beurden, might expertise an investor riot in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet at the AGM after the investment adviser Pirc urged a vote towards it.

Signal up to the every day Business At the moment email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk

A Shell spokesperson said: “Be in little doubt, we're determined to deliver on our world strategy to be a internet zero company by 2050 and 1000's of our individuals are working laborious to realize this. We have now set targets for the short, medium and long term, and have each intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon power, although the world will still want oil and gasoline for many years to come back in sectors that may’t be simply decarbonised.”

Shell also faces the prospect of a potential windfall tax to fund cuts to household bills after the power business reported bumper earnings fuelled by the increase in market costs, prompting opposition parties to call on the federal government to usher in a one-off levy.

On Monday, the largest oil and gasoline producer in the North Sea spoke out towards a one-off levy, arguing it will lead to the industry approving fewer projects.

Harbour Energy’s chief govt, Linda Cook, informed the Financial Instances: “A better tax burden will make it more difficult for new oil and gas initiatives to satisfy investment hurdle charges, which means fewer projects might be sanctioned.

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

Harbour has instructed the federal government it plans to take a position $6bn within the North Sea over three years as business makes its case in opposition to the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Prepare dinner had received a £4.6m “golden hey” from the agency.