Tag: shale gas

Europe should focus on cutting carbon emissions instead of just repeating the existing EU green policy targets which expire at the end of the decade, Britain's energy and climate chief Edward Davey told a global energy and environment summit.

The environmental group Food & Water Europe has accused the Polish author of a European Parliament report on shale gas extraction of resorting to "Cold War" rhetoric against Russia to support the industry's development.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged his country's gas industry to "rise to the challenge" of shale gas as the United States and some European countries forge ahead with developing the controversial energy source.

US State Secretary Hillary Clinton lobbied for the development of shale gas in Bulgaria during a weekend visit, more than two weeks after the country's Parliament passed a moratorium on an industry where US major Chevron has big stakes.

Thousands of Bulgarians have protested against exploration for shale gas over fears it could poison underground water, trigger earthquakes and pose serious public health hazards.

Polish rural communities largely depend on low-cost but dirty coal for their heating, but under pressure from Brussels to provide cleaner energy, Warsaw is proposing controversial shale gas wells as an alternative.

Shale gas and unconventional gas have a huge future but their lack of social acceptance, and the technological adjustments and regulatory framework required to develop them remain a challenge in Europe, Pawel Konzal of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told EurActiv Czech Republic in an exclusive interview.

While Europe is becoming ever more enthusiastic about shale gas, domestic production of this controversial energy source is unlikely to become a genuine game-changer for the EU any time soon, writes Roderick Kefferpütz, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

The French government has backed a draft bill that would ban shale gas drilling in the country, citing fears that the extraction method is a risk to water quality. However, for other countries like Poland, shale gas has become a national priority to win independence from Russian imports. EurActiv France reports.

The head of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has blown cold air on gas lobby claims that Europe could save €900 billion and still hit its 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets if it built more gas plants fitted with controversial carbon capture and storage technology.

The European Commission is today much more receptive to the potential of natural gas as a climate-friendly and cheap energy source, said Jean-François Cirelli, president of Eurogas and vice-chairman of GDF-Suez, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

Europe should turn to natural gas in its search for the affordable and reliable energy sources of the future, energy company representatives said at the European Business Summit (EBS) yesterday (1 July).