Shale gas for a better climate? The US fracking revolution challenges European and international climate policy

Since natural gas surpassed coal in US energy consumption, the country's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been declining. The United States hopes that this will lead to a long-term improvement of its emissions performance. Yet the shale gas boom has not spread beyond the United States. It is indeed questionable whether shale gas will be able to bring about a turnaround in global emissions as long as the worldwide demand for coal continues to rise. From the current perspective, shale gas can be expected to produce at most a mixed overall impact on the climate since its future consumption depends on the environmental and energy policy decisions of the United States and other countries. International market developments are also ridden with uncertainties. The potentially sweeping political consequences of the natural gas boom in the United States confront European and international climate policy makers with entirely new and unexpected challenges. (author's abstract