‘Absurd decision’: Disbelief as government reviews fracking ban hours after dire fossil fuel warning

Less than 24 hours after the United Nations called on the world to wind down fossil fuel extractions within three years, the government has renewed its interest in drilling for gas by fracking.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has ordered a review to be carried out into the practice as the government considers “all possible domestic energy sources” in the wake of surging energy prices and the war in Ukraine.

Fracking – hydraulic fracturing of shale rock to extract fossil gas – was halted in November 2019 after growing concerns over earthquakes. The British Geological Survey will now investigate whether the risks have altered since the ban.

Experts have repeatedly stated that fracking in Britain can do next to nothing to bring the costs of gas down, while insulating homes and promoting the installation of ground heat pumps is the fastest way to end dependence on Russian gas.

Labour’s Ed Miliband, the shadow climate and net zero secretary, accused Boris Johnson’s government of responding to internal squabbles instead of the major issues.

He told The Independent: “Rather than bowing to their own backbenchers, the government should be coming forward with real action to ensure energy security and tackle the cost of living crisis.

“The government itself concluded that fracking is unsafe, and will not help our energy security or cut bills. And fracking is strongly opposed by local communities.

“Labour would turbocharge the drive to clean, homegrown renewable and nuclear power to provide energy security, cut bills and tackle the climate crisis.”

Announcing the review into the moratorium on fracking, Mr Kwarteng said: “We have always been, and always will be, guided by the science on shale gas.

“It remains the case that fracking in England would take years of exploration and development before commercial quantities of gas could be produced for the market, and would certainly have no effect on prices in the near term.

“However, there will continue to be an ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming decades as we transition to cheap renewable energy and new nuclear power.

“In light of Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, it is absolutely right that we explore all possible domestic energy sources.

“However, unless the latest scientific evidence demonstrates that shale gas extraction is safe, sustainable and of minimal disturbance to those living and working nearby, the pause in England will remain in place.”

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party told The Independent: “Fracking will only deepen our country’s dependence on fossil fuels, will not bring down fuel bills for people who are struggling, and will cause yet more damage to local communities and to the climate.

“The most effective and sustainable way of bringing down the cost of living is to invest in insulating houses and massively ramping up renewable energy. Fracking is an expensive and dangerous distraction from that urgent goal.”

On Monday, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged governments not to pursue fossil fuels. He said: “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing production of fossil fuels.

“Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”

Green MP Caroline Lucas described Mr Kwarteng’s announcement as “utterly exasperating”.

“Am I reading this right?” she asked on Twitter.

Ami McCarthy, political campaigner at Greenpeace, said the announcement did not “bode well” for the forthcoming energy strategy.

She told The Independent: “Less than 24 hours after the UN has slated new fossil fuels investments as ‘economic madness’, the government has launched a review into fracking. This does not bode well for Thursday’s upcoming energy strategy.

“Johnson must stop pandering to fracking obsessives who aren’t up to speed with the realities of 21st century energy challenges, and instead get on with the quick, clean and cheap solutions like bringing in a windfall tax, cutting home energy waste, and bolstering our British solar, onshore and offshore wind.”

There is scant public support for fracking. According to poling by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), just 8 per cent of people in the UK support fracking as the best long-term solution to the gas crisis. A majority (51 per cent) said they see decreasing reliance on gas either through more renewables or insulation as the best way forward.

Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at CPRE, the countryside charity, said:  “Opening the door again to fracking is an absurd decision by the government that’s guaranteed to provoke fury and despair within any community threatened by a potential fracking site in their neighbourhood.

“Public opposition to fracking has increased to the point where it is hard to see how any project could go ahead without mass protests.

He added: “To be clear, fracking would make no difference whatsoever to the energy crisis our country currently faces. It would take years for any gas to be pumped from the ground – and, far from lowering household bills, that gas would simply be sold for sky high rates on the global market. Worse still, fracking would make a mockery of the government’s claim to be taking the climate crisis seriously – all of the evidence suggests that we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels as quickly as possible.”