Ignoring 'Fantastic Opportunity' of Gas Is Foolish

Lomborg answers questions about fracking, nuclear power, GMOs and organic food f

rom Bloomberg News reporter

Alex Morales: Bloomberg: You've been looking at the benefits of fracking. Tell me what you've found. Lomborg: Fracking in a U.S. context has dramatically lowered U.S. carbon emissions, about 400 to 500 million tons, compared to the entire impact of the EU and Kyoto Protocol of about 250 million tons. So the U.S. has inadvertently lowered its carbon emissions by about twice as much just by making cheap gas available. We've actually managed to find a technology that's cheaper than coal and delivers much more climate benefits. Bloomberg: What about the negatives? Fracking's had a very bad press in Europe. Lomborg: There are significant issues, mostly around the pollution of water resources. Very definitely that's something we need to regulate. It’s a very well understood technology. So, yes, we should regulate it, but to ignore the fantastic opportunity both of cheaper energy and lower CO2 emissions seems foolish. Read the interview online

18 Oct 2012

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