Shale gas would 'damn UK climate change targets'

Using shale gas could prevent the UK from reducing its carbon footprint, causing it to fail to meet its climate change targets.

Scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, in a report commissioned by the Cooperative Group, warned that if the controversial plans to permit shale gas drilling go ahead, even a minor extraction would result in the release of so much carbon dioxide that the climate change targets would become unattainable.

It stated that if just 20 per cent of the gas resources identified in Lancashire were recovered, some two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide would be generated and suggested that it shale gas could account for as much as 15 per cent of the UK's total emissions allowance by 2050.

"Electricity needs to be decarbonised by 2030 with domestic heating having moved from high-carbon gas to low-carbon electricity … With so little time to meet these commitments, there is no meaningful emissions allowance available for shale gas," said Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at the Tyndall Centre.

Shale gas is a hugely controversial issue in the UK and the US, with many critics claiming that it contaminates water, causing it to ignite.

Posted by Joseph Hutton