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

A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil gas producer in a bombshell public video of inflicting “excessive harms” to the atmosphere.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others within the oil and gasoline business to “walk away whereas there’s nonetheless time”.

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

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

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

“They know that continued oil and gas extraction causes excessive harms, to our local weather, to our environment and to people. And no matter they are saying, Shell is solely not winding down on fossil fuels.”

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

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

“I can not work for an organization that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the risks of local weather change and ecological collapse,” she stated. “Because, opposite to Shell’s public expressions round internet zero, they don't seem to be winding down on oil and gas, however planning to discover and extract far more.”

Dennett – a legal justice graduate who has spent her profession in analysis and consultancy – was impressed to cease working with Shell after watching news footage of Extinction Rise up climate protesters urging the corporate’s employees to depart. The motion’s TruthTeller whistleblowing challenge encourages oil and gas staff to walk away from the industry.

The consultant, who runs inner safety surveys and is based in Weymouth, Dorset, acknowledged she was “privileged” to have the ability to walk away and “many individuals working in fossil gas firms just aren’t so fortunate”.

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

In late 2020, several Shell executives in its clear energy sector left amid reports they were pissed off on 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 cut back emissions can be discussed on the meeting where the Dutch activist group Comply with This may push for the corporate’s insurance policies to be extra in keeping 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 said it intends to abstain on a vote on the agency’s climate transition proposals.

The Shell chief government, Ben van Beurden, may experience an investor riot in opposition to his £13.5m pay packet on the AGM after the funding adviser Pirc urged a vote towards 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 net zero firm by 2050 and hundreds of our people are working exhausting to achieve this. We now have set targets for the short, medium and long term, and have every intention of hitting them.

“We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon vitality, although the world will nonetheless want oil and gasoline for many years to come in sectors that can’t be easily decarbonised.”

Shell also faces the prospect of a possible windfall tax to fund cuts to family bills after the energy business reported bumper income fuelled by the increase in market prices, prompting opposition events to name on the federal government to herald a one-off levy.

On Monday, the most important oil and gas producer within the North Sea spoke out against a one-off levy, arguing it could lead to the trade approving fewer tasks.

Harbour Energy’s chief government, Linda Prepare dinner, told the Financial Instances: “A higher tax burden will make it more challenging for new oil and gas initiatives to satisfy funding hurdle rates, meaning fewer projects can be sanctioned.

“This is at a time when business is being encouraged to increase domestic UK oil and fuel manufacturing and support an orderly power transition.”

Harbour has advised the federal government it plans to take a position $6bn in the North Sea over three years as industry makes its case in opposition to the tax. The Guardian revealed this month that Cook had obtained a £4.6m “golden hiya” from the agency.