Ban is key step to zero-carbon future

The ban is a huge victory for the environment and for local communities fighting fracking. Scotland has joined a growing number of states and regions around the world who have said no to the industry.

The evidence presented to the Scottish Government over the past two and a half years of moratorium documents a truly alarming catalogue of hazards and risks that the fracking industry would bring with it.

These range from irreversible pollution of our water sources to an increase in climate-changing emissions and harm to the health of people unfortunate enough to live in the path of the industry.

The potential health risks alone are enough to merit a ban on fracking. An increasing number of studies in the US, where the industry is more developed, link onshore gas drilling to health impacts including low birth weights and congenital heart defects in babies born to mothers living in the vicinity of wells, as well as respiratory, heart and kidney diseases and cancers.

Butclimatechangeisincreasingly a key factor in the implementation of bans and moratoriums. Not just because of the alarming environmental impact of methane leaking from fracking infrastructure, but because it is beginning to sink in that we cannot open up any new frontiers of fossil fuels if we are to avert catastrophic global warming.

This decision will be celebrated across the country and around the world, and signals an important step to a zerocarbon future for Scotland.