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Woman quits job with mic drop video: 'It's possible my reputation may be damaged'
A senior safety consultant who has worked at Shell for over a decade publicly quit in a video on social media, where she accused the oil and gas company of causing extreme harm to the environment.
Per the BBC, Caroline Dennett posted her resignation video on the professional networking platform LinkedIn and outlined her reasons for quitting her job.
Dennett wrote in her post which amassed almost 12,000 likes and has been shared more than 1,300 times, that Shell is "causing extreme harms to our climate, environment, nature and to people."
The former senior employee revealed that she sent an email to Shell's executives and 1400 staff stating her reasons, including "failing on their safety ambition to do no harm." She also urged other people to follow her lead and "walk away" from the industry.
"I can no longer work for a company that ignores all the alarms and dismisses the risks of climate change and ecological collapse," she wrote on LinkedIn.
"Because, contrary to Shell’s public expressions around Net Zero, they are not winding down on oil and gas, but 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 continued: "We must end all new extraction projects immediately and rapidly transition away from fossil fuels, and towards clean renewable energy sources. Shell should be using all its capital, technical and human power to lead this transition, but they have no plan to do this."
The former safety advisor admitted that her resignation and video could damage her career and reputation, but she was encouraged to stand up for herself after watching footage of protesters from the climate action group Extinction Rebellion.
"I don’t know what impact this action will have on my business and career, and it’s possible my reputation may be damaged in the eyes of people I have worked with," she added. "However, I feel like there is no other choice I can make."
As reported by Off-shore energy, in 2022, several executives of Shell left the oil major over a disagreement about how far and fast the company should transition into greener fuels.
A Shell spokesperson said: "Be in no doubt, we are determined to deliver on our global strategy to be a net-zero company by 2050, and thousands of our people are working hard to achieve this. We 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 energy, although the world will still need oil and gas for decades to come in sectors that can’t be easily decarbonized."