Consultant claims company is 'ignoring all the alarms and dismissing the risks of climate change and ecological collapse'
A senior safety consultant at oil giant Shell has quit via an email sent to 1,000 employees of the company, including CEO Ben van Beurden.
Caroline Dennett, who was a senior consultant with Shell for 11 years, sent an open letter to the company, accusing it of causing “extreme harms” to the environment and of “ignoring all the alarms and dismissing the risks of climate change and ecological collapse”.
Dennett said the company is “failing on a massive planetary scale” on its “Goal Zero: no harm, no leaks” ambition.
She claimed that contrary to Shell’s public expressions around Net Zero, Shell is not winding down oil and gas but is actually planning to explore and extract much more.
“I want Shell execs and management to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they really believe their vision for more oil and gas extraction secures a safe future for humanity,” she said.
Last month, British Columbia identified the oil and gas sector – along with construction, forestry and food processing – as having hazardous work regulations for young people.
Dennett also offered further details into the matter in a separate LinkedIn post.
“I can no longer work for a company that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the risks of climate change and ecological collapse,” she said.
“Shell’s disregard for climate change risks means they are completely failing on their Goal Zero safety ambition to do no harm. Shell is fully aware that their continued oil & gas extraction and expansion projects are causing extreme harms, to our climate, environment, nature and to people.”
Dennett also claimed that there is a need for new extraction projects to be immediately ended, and for a rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean renewable energy sources.
Previously, COS looked at the biggest safety disasters in Canadian history, and took a swing forward and looked at what potential new risks may arise in the near (or distant) future.
Climate change and global warming are already starting to impact the workplace, according to a previous COS report. Also, an increase in heat stress at work linked to climate change could have a massive impact on global productivity and economic losses, according to a report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) released in 2019.
