WWF reacts to the defeat of the Lancashire anti-fracking campaigners at the High Court

13 Apr 2017 09:19 AM

Gareth Redmond-King, Head of Energy and Climate at WWF commented on the High Court decision 

“This government is keen on people having the final say on wind farms, but not so much when it comes to fracking.  This decision clearly flies in the face of the will of local people in Lancashire. Their voices have been loud and clear on this issue - that unconventional oil and gas are neither good for people nor the planet - and this view has been woefully ignored. Rather than fracking, the UK Government needs to focus investment in innovative, low carbon technologies to provide for our energy needs.

“They really have to set out how we will reach the UK’s emissions targets – they need to publish their plan to reduce emissions. Fracking will not help us reach these carbon targets – in fact, it hinders it, by opening up a new source of fossil fuels when what we most need to do is leave most of the world’s remaining gas, coal and oil in the ground.”

Notes:

• Public support for fracking vs renewables: only 18% of those surveyed as part of BEIS’s most recent public attitudes tracker said they supported fracking vs 74% support for renewables
• The committee on climate change is clear that without much stricter conditions the UK cannot frack and stay within our carbon budgets. https://www.theccc.org.uk/2016/07/07/exploitation-of-onshore-petroleum-requires-three-key-tests-to-be-met-ccc-says/