Shell’s safety consultant has resigned after accusing the company’s top management of neglecting to protect the environment.
Caroline Dennett wrote on the professional networking site LinkedIn that the firm is “doing severe harm to our climate, ecology, nature, and people.” It has received more than 10,000 likes and has been shared over 1,200 times.
Shell responded by reiterating its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Ms Dennett said she emailed Shell executives and 1,400 workers and contractors this week to inform them of her plans to depart the company. She stated, “I can no longer work for a firm that denies all the warnings and overlooks the consequences of climate change and ecological catastrophe.”
“Because contrary to Shell’s public statements about ‘net zero,’ they are preparing to explore and extract far more oil and gas,” she continued.
The shell should “immediately suspend all new extraction operations and transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean renewable energy sources,” according to Ms Dennett.
“Shell, with all of its wealth, technological, and human capabilities, should be leading this transition,” she continued.
Ms Dennett said she had worked for Shell for more than a decade as a safety consultant, and that her position entailed assessing the company’s employees and contractors around the world to reduce accidents and oil spills.
Shell is a “big client” of her separate firm, which specialises in safety assessments.
Shell announced on Wednesday that it was working toward becoming a net-zero firm by 2050.
“We have set targets for the short, medium, and long term, and we intend to achieve them,” a business spokeswoman stated.
Shell’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, stated in November that the company would eventually achieve net-zero emissions.
However, he stated that the company’s green energy goals could only be funded by oil and gas.
