Commenting on the announcement that the Oil & Gas Authority has ordered Cuadrilla to plug and abandon its two wells in Lancashire, Greenpeace UK’s head of climate Kate Blagojevic said:

“We heard the same story a decade ago – fracking was going to be the solution to our energy problems. Years later, all this industry has given us are a couple of holes in a muddy field and some minor earthquakes. Even shale advocates were forced to concede that fracking wasn’t going to lower energy bills, and that remains true for both shale gas and new gas from the North Sea [1]. It will take many years to develop and if it gets produced at all, it will be sold to the highest bidder on the international market, barely making a dent on global gas prices. The solution to the energy crisis isn’t more gas, but better, greener homes. That’s why the UK government should start an ambitious nationwide programme to insulate our poor-quality houses. This would cut both energy bill and climate-wrecking emissions.”