Shale gas and fracking: an NGO perspective

Tony BosworthClimate & Energy Campaigner

Friends of the Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland

Friends of the Earth

• World’s largest grassroots environmental network: 76 national groups, 5 continents.

• We campaign for sustainable and just societies and for the protection of the environment.

• Movement just over 40 years old

Friends of the Earth Europe

• Europe’s largest grassroots environmental network

• 30 national organisations

• Thousands of local groups

Important caveat

These are the views of Friends of the Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland.However they are broadly shared by Friends of the Earth groups across Europe and other green NGOs.

What I want to talk about

• The climate crisis• Our energy future• Does unconventional gas have a role to play? (focus

on shale gas but also coal bed methane, underground coal gasification)

Climate change is happening now

Global trajectories

Country trajectories

Our energy future

Three underlying principles:• Environmental – helps tackle climate change and

minimises other impacts• Social – gives people access to services they need eg

warm homes, safe & reliable transport• Economic – does this at an affordable cost for

people and businesses

What this means

• Reduce demand and maximise energy efficiency• Electrify demand fast where this is possible • Decarbonise electricity• Carbon Capture & Storage where possible for

what’s left• Some negative emissions technology needed

The UK’s future electricity mix

Shale gas – the key questions

• Is it safe?• Will it help tackle climate change?• Will it cut energy bills?• Will it create jobs?

EC assessment of risks to environment and health

High risk issues for cumulative impact:

• Ground water contamination• Surface water contamination• Air pollution

• Also water resource use, land take, biodiversity impacts, noise and traffic

Water

• Contamination: anecdotal or real?

• Chemicals: – what’s going down the

well?– worker exposure

• Waste water• Water resources: one

well or 10,000 people?

Risks of contamination

• “You never have control. Fractures will always go into the path of least resistance.”(Mark Miller, Cuadrilla)

• “Hydraulic fracturing will contaminate New York's aquifers. If you were looking for a way to poison the drinking water supply, here in the north-east you couldn't find a more chillingly effective and thorough method of doing so than with hydraulic fracturing.“(Paul Hetzler, former groundwater expert, NY State DEC)

Climate change solution?

• Shale gas: transition, destination or companion fuel?

• Relative greenhouse impact compared to coal and conventional gas

• Negative impact on investment in renewables• Substitute for coal or renewables?

A Golden Age of Gas?

International Energy Agency scenario:• global gas demand up 50% to 2035• unconventional gas production triples to 2035• “… puts CO2 emissions on a long-term trajectory consistent with a probable temperature rise of more than 3.5 °C in the long term”.• “we are not saying that it will be a golden age for humanity - we are saying it will be a golden age for gas”

Will Carbon Capture & Storage solve the problem?

• Not operational at scale anywhere in the world

• Will it be cost-effective?

• Global development is slowing

• IEA does not assume CCS in the period to 2035

Will shale gas cut energy bills?

“Those waiting for a shale-gas ‘revolution’ outside the US will likely be disappointed, in terms of both price and the speed at which high-volume production can be achieved.We do not expect the impact of shale-gas production on EU gas prices to be anywhere near as great as has been the case with US shale-gas production” (Deutsche Bank)

Jobs: how many?

Evidence from UK:• Cuadrilla: shale gas exploitation would create 5600

jobs in the UK, of which 1700 in Lancashire• But experience from US shows numbers often

overstated• UK renewables: – 1544 jobs in North West in 1 year – 21,000 in UK as a whole– Potential for 400,000 by end of the decade

Jobs: who for and how long for?

• Will skilled jobs go to local people? Do imported skills mean a transient workforce?

• Can’t be ‘in and out quickly’ and have sustainable long-term employment

• Boom and bust?

Jobs: impact on other sectors?

• Cuadrilla study didn’t look at impacts on existing key local sectors: tourism (£200m annually), agriculture, market gardening

• Concern in Australia about coal-seam gas:– tourism bodies calling for moratorium– “Exploration for, or production of, gas has the potential

to severely disrupt virtually every aspect of agricultural production on cropping lands and, in extreme circumstances, remove the land from production.” (Senate inquiry)

Jobs: what delivers most?

• How many jobs created for $1 million investment?– Gas 5– Coal 7– Wind 13– Solar 14– Building retrofits 17 (University of Massachusetts)

• Jobs at all levels of educational attainment• Green energy creates more jobs at all levels

Conclusions

Answers to key questions:• Big risks for environment, public and workers (and

gaps in EU legislation)• Doesn’t help tackle climate change and affects

renewables• Unlikely to cut energy bills• Green energy creates more jobs

Unconventional, unwanted, unnecessary

Widespread opposition

• Bans in France and Bulgaria • Moratoriums in Holland, parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic• Grassroots opposition in all countries• Fastest growing social movement in Australia (Lock the Gate Alliance)

The way forward

• Moratorium: no shale gas extraction

• “The optimum path would be to see more renewables, more efficiency and more low carbon technologies” (International Energy Agency)