UK adviser flags shale gas 'fairy-tale'

Kennedy says EMR won't solve offshore wind's finance problem

Anyone expecting shale gas to have the same transformational impact in the UK as it has in the US is living in a “fairy-tale”, warns the head of the government’s official advisory group on climate change.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), a statutory group formed in 2008 to advise the government on the smartest ways to meet its binding climate targets, envisages a 2030 power mix comprised of offshore wind (40%), nuclear (38%), carbon capture and storage (14%) and gas (8%).

But an “alternative story has emerged recently” centred on shale gas, acknowledges CCC chief executive David Kennedy.

“That story – and it’s a fairy tale – is let’s look over at America, where shale gas has come along to transform the energy sector and cause…

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