Nov. 2013 Shale Gas & Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Chatham House. London
Session on Rethinking Energy: the impact of unconventional production.
Other speakers, from Kathryn Klaber previous CEO of the Macrellus Shale Coalition to Dan Byles MP, chair of the All-party parliamentary group on unconventional oil and gas, detailed the benefits of shale gas, but with only fleeting mention of climate change. My presentation painted a different story – particularly for the wealthier (Annex 1) nations. Shale gas exploitation and use are not compatible with repeated obligations on 2°C; moreover there is insufficient emission space, even within the UK government’s much weaker budgets and targets (i.e. greater than 2°C), for shale gas to play other than a very minor role.
As the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s own chief scientist, Professor David MacKay made clear in his recent report on shale gas:
For further Tyndall work on climate change, see:
Tyndall submission to the Energy and Climate Change committee.
UK unveils Office of unconventional gas & oil – another nail in the climate change coffin
A more detailed account is available in:
Shale gas:an updated assessment of the environmental & climate change impacts (chapter 3 for the climate change focus)
An example of how shale gas is likely to be add to global fossil fuel reserves and not be a substitute for coal can be found at:
Has US shale gas reduced CO2 emissions?