Ipieca, the global oil and gas industry association for advancing environmental and social performance, has appointed Shell's Karen Westley as its new Vice Chair.
Vice President for Carbon, Environment and Downstream Safety, Environment and Asset Management at Shell, Karen brings over 20 years of oil, gas and energy experience to her new role at Ipieca. Karen first joined the Shell Foundation in 2001 as part of the start-up team responsible for designing and implementing the Foundation's strategy and managing energy and poverty programmes. Since then, Karen has held Vice President roles in both Environment and Business Innovation, as well as managerial positions across Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage, and Social Performance at Shell.
Prior to working at Shell, Karen spent 4 years working at CARE, a leading humanitarian global organization which provides emergency relief and implements long-term international development projects including helping children access education, increasing access to clean water and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Karen has been a part of Ipieca's Executive Committee for the past two years and is taking over the role of Vice Chair from Kelly Goddard of bp. Karen's appointment was endorsed during Ipieca's recent 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting.
Commenting on her new role in Ipieca, Karen Westley said, 'I'm delighted to take on the role of Ipieca Vice Chair. At this time when the environmental and social performance of our industry is under great scrutiny, Ipieca has an important role to play in building trust among the stakeholders who hold us to the highest standards.'
Karen continued, 'Building on over 45 years of bringing together the expertise of members and stakeholders to develop good practice, I look forward to supporting Ipieca's ambitions to help tackle some of the biggest sustainability challenges facing the planet. Collaborations of the kind that Ipieca convenes will be critical to developing practical pathways forward.'
Karen joins a team of senior sustainability leaders from across the oil and gas sector that oversees the implementation of Ipieca's strategy to provide leadership for the global oil and gas industry on advancing climate action, environmental responsibility, social performance and mainstreaming sustainability.
Find out more about Ipieca's leadership and strategy.
