Could fracking actually be environmentally good for us after all?

Could fracking be good for us? –Ben Webster in the Times yesterday (£) with an unexpected output from the IPCC…

Shale gas can help the world to avoid dangerous climate change if it replaces coal in power stations, according to a United Nations report.

Global emissions need to fall by at least 40 per cent by 2050 and almost to zero by 2100 to have a good chance of limiting the increase in the average temperature to 2C, above which the UN says there could be catastrophic impacts.

But ominously perhaps, he also adds:

Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, said: “This is the first IPCC report that will be largely ignored by most policymakers. It will have no influence on governments’ energy policies that are now almost completely dominated by energy security and economic considerations. Around the world the climate issue is being pushed to the margins of decision making.”

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