Factcheck: why fracking in UK will not reduce your energy bills
The political earthquake in Downing Street has delayed publication of a review into the scientific evidence around fracking for shale gas, which had been expected earlier this month.
In the face of an urgent and intensifying energy crisis, that delay can only be bad news – or so the vocal media and political supporters of shale gas development would have you believe. (The Sun has published at least 14 editorials calling for UK fracking this year – one every fortnight.)
Just this week, the Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss suggested we should lift the current ban on fracking as part of “doing all we can to lower the cost of energy for consumers”. But the case for fracking as a response to the energy crisis is about as solid as the final days of Boris Johnson’s premiership – and we don’t need a scientific review to tell us why.
To start with, the global energy crisis is first and foremost a gas crisis, massively exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. European gas prices have jumped 700% since the start of last year.
With soaring energy bills and inflation overwhelmingly being driven by record-high gas prices – and with renewables four times cheaper – it’s tough to argue that fracking is the answer. Even shale gas executives have not been prepared to claim their industry could cut energy bills.
Even if energy security is our overriding concern in the short term, then there must be serious doubts over the potential for shale gas to come to the rescue. UK shale supporters keep saying fracking could make the UK self-sufficient in gas for 50 years – but they conveniently ignore evidence there’s far less gas available.
Scientists from the British Geological Survey (BGS) – which is behind the government review – wrote
Read more on theguardian.com
