In the face of an all-out effort by fossil-fuel lobbyists to rebrand natural gas as a cheaper "green fuel", the EU's climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, is being forced into a robust defence of renewable energy. Multinational energy groups, including Shell, Statoil and GDF Suez, are among dozens of global companies spending heavily on new technologies to exploit shale gas..
Gas companies saw their big chance to brand themselves as the primary "green" source of clean energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
