Bright Blue, the independent think tank for liberal conservatism, welcomes the Government’s announcement today that it will place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’.
Commenting, Sam Robinson, Researcher at Bright Blue, said:
“Fracking is a significant source of potential energy. But its benefits in terms of increased energy security are significantly outweighed by the costs of environmental damage such as methane leaks. That is why the Government is right to ban fracking with immediate effect. The UK should instead focus investment into clean energy sources which can deliver more energy and deeper decarbonisation whilst also being economically competitive.”
Bright Blue’s book, Tory modernisation 2.0, noted that evidence supporting the idea that shale gas could reduce emissions if it displaced coal “looks doubtful at best, and dangerous at worst.” Earlier this year, Sam Robinson wrote a Centre Write article exploring in detail the case for and against fracking, concluding that a large scale expansion of fracking would not only be risky but is incompatible with an ambitious strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
