Britain has recently announced a new energy exploitation policy to increase oil and gas production, drawing opposition from climate experts, Green groups and communities.
On Thursday, the British government formally lifted a ban on fracking for shale gas in England and confirmed support for a new oil and gas licensing round.
According to the government, plans for a new oil and gas licensing round due in early October will pave the way for more than 100 new licences for exploration, which could involve fracking.
Downing Street argued that the move will help Britain boost domestic energy production, maintain energy security and reduce dependence on imports.
Britain is heavily reliant on natural gas. The industry body Offshore Energies UK says that without new investment, Britain will have to import around 80 percent of its gas by 2030, 70 percent of its oil, up from around 60 percent and 20 percent now respectively.
Before winter comes, a guarantee of enough gas to provide heat to households despite surging energy prices becomes a must for the government, and yet the move has drawn strong opposition from experts and the global community.
"It seems pretty misguided in the current climate emergency that we're in," Dr. Ajay Gambhir, a senior research fellow at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, said in an interview with Xinhua.
"It's disappointing that politicians aren't taking the climate emergency more seriously and I think that fracking and the exploitation of fossil fuel resources at this time seems out of step with what's a really big problem for society right now," said Gambhir, who has served as a scientific advisor to the British government on low-carbon strategies.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling into the earth and injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break rocks and extract the gas and oil inside.
British media reported that communities living nearby the possible exploitation sites worry the fracking process may cause earth tremors, thus impacting the landscape, tourism and agriculture.
In addition, shale gas is also a fossil fuel. Gambhir said fracking is "inconsistent with the climate goals of this government and others across the world." His view was echoed by Green groups.
"We have next-to-nothing left in terms of our carbon budget, so there's no more room for new fossil fuel sources," said Gambhir.
In his view, Britain, first and foremost, needs a national emergency energy efficiency program to make its construction, industrial manufacturing plants and transport systems more efficient.
Energy efficiency is important, but Gambhir held that the government should give more attention to renewables and low carbon energy to increase energy efficiency.
The 2015 Paris Agreement saw governments agree to a cap on warming of well below 2 degrees Celsius and preferably a safer 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Editor: Leon
