The Co-operative is campaigning for a clean energy revolution. As part of this campaign we're calling for a moratorium on the development of shale gas and 'fracking' in the UK.
What is shale gas and why are we campaigning?
Shale gas is a type of natural gas. It is extracted by injecting millions of litres of water, chemicals and sand into shale, a layer of rock under the ground, which then fractures and releases the gas. Shale gas has previously been technologically hard to extract and therefore termed 'unconventional'.
The exploitation of shale gas, like tar sands, risks pushing us into a period of dangerous climate change. Serious questions have also been raised about the process of extracting shale gas - called hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' - given its potential to contaminate groundwater.
More resources
You'll find useful downloads, reports and external resources about shale gas and fracking on our resources page.
Get involved:
- Contact your MP - encourage them to support our call for a moratorium on 'fracking' in the UK.
- Watch Gasland - we supported the UK cinema release of the Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning film, Gasland, which highlights the impacts of fracking activities on the local environment in the United States. Watch the trailer below or visit the official Gasland website for details of screenings.
Support clean energy
We're campaigning to bring a clean energy revolution into the lives of our customers, members and communities across the UK.
- Saying NO to more dirty fossil fuels: as well as calling for a moratorium on the development of shale gas in the UK, we're continuing our campaign against Canadian tar sands
- Saying YES to clean energy: we're supporting communities to develop renewable energy and take control of their energy future, whilst calling on the UK Government to invest more in clean energy.
More information about this campaign will be added shortly.
Gasland trailer