Caroline Dennett’s attention was drawn to a banner with two harsh words: “Privileged people are back.” The security consultant was watching a video of Extinction Rebellion climate protesters clinging to Shell headquarters in April and encouraging employees to jump on the boat to help their cause.
This week, Dennett, who runs the independent agency Clout, released a video bomb that breaks ties with Shell after an 11-year business relationship. He emailed 1,400 Shell employees and accused the £ 177 billion giant of causing “extreme damage” to the environment and of having a “disregard for the risks of climate change”.
She believes Shell is not resolving its polluting fossil fuel business and urged its employees to “sideline while there is still time.” She acknowledged that she was “privileged” to be able to make the decision to cut ties.
In statements to the Guardian, he says support for his decision has come from customers and people around the world. Its cause may have been helped by the fact that Shell has reaped disproportionate benefits from the energy crisis, affecting its public image and fueling the demands for an extraordinary tax, which has now been introduced.
Shell’s consultant dramatically resigns over the company’s “double talk” on the weather: video
A lone troll said to her, “You’ve got the money and now you’re running, Princess.”
Dennett’s microphone download video was the culmination of a growing sense of discomfort working with the 115-year-old company. His relationship with Shell began in the wake of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster when the industry struggled to tighten security procedures.
He studied the lessons of the Gulf of Mexico and other tragedies, including poor transfers and pressure to take shortcuts. Clout then designed a bespoke survey for front-line workers, managers, and contractors. Since then, his work has taken him to a former Jumping Pound gas plant in Alberta, Canada, and to Qatar and Trinidad. His in-depth studies question employees about safety processes, their training, resources, and whether managers trust them to take responsibility. He has conducted several such large studies for Shell, as well as for other oil and gas customers and unconnected industries.
At the same time, Dennett had become increasingly involved in climate activism. He has spent time addressing Dorset town halls and schools, living in Weymouth, leading debates and encouraging local action, such as installing solar panels in town halls.
“I would find myself asking councils to take their money out of fossil fuels, but then he admitted that I work in industry and that I have to do it myself. We are all hypocrites to some extent, but that was starting to seem ridiculous,” he says.
An Extinction Rebellion protest in front of Methodist Central Hall in London on Tuesday, where activists disrupted Shell’s AGM. Photography: Leon Neal / Getty Images
“What is clear about working with Shell’s front-line employees is that clean zero is not spoken in-house. Issues such as security and tensions with local communities never simply appear,” he says.
But is it fair to expect an oil rig worker to be involved in his employer’s overall corporate strategy? “Yes. If you’re embedded in the business, you’ll hear about it all the time. They are experts in risk management, but they do not manage climate risk, “he says.
The strength of sentiment about Shell’s impact on the environment was underscored the day after Dennett’s video was released. At the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting at Methodist Central Hall in London, Extinction Rebellion protesters beat the drums and shouted, “The shell must fall” as people entered.
Inside, protesters delayed the meeting by nearly three hours shouting and singing “we stop you” to the tune of the 1977 Queen hit We Will Rock You. The executive team sat still, stony-faced, watching as the chairman, Sir Andrew Mackenzie, tried to appease the protesters. “It was amazing. Singing on the board, you can’t get any more nonviolent direct action than that,” Dennett says.
His decision to reject Shell comes at a price: “About 60% -70% of my business,” he admits. There is also the possibility of legal action by Shell.
Sign up for the Daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk
It’s a business he built after an unlikely trip. He was born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales; his father installed industrial pipes and his mother worked in a leisure center. After studying criminal justice and later marketing, he worked in social services, including a psychiatric hospital. They spent six years in the Netherlands, working first for a nascent satellite navigation developer and then for the Canon camera company. He then worked for research agencies before creating Clout.
So what would be the dream reaction to your public manifestation of dissent? “This Shell would wake up and use all the skill, capital and human power to make a genuine transition. They were a pioneering company that had a vision. Now they have no vision. It’s a vision of take take take. All that is “I think they’re continuing what they’ve been doing. I’m telling the executives, ‘Look in the mirror.’
Shell said more than 75% of the £ 20 billion to £ 25 billion it intends to spend in the UK over the next decade is on low-carbon and zero-carbon products and services. The company said: “We expect our energy transition spending to account for 50% of our total spending in 2025.”