BRUSSELS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The EU economy needs shale gas to spur jobs and recovery, while breaking the traditional link between economic recovery and a rise in carbon emissions, Poland's environment minister said.
Poland, which is heavily dependent on carbon-intensive coal and imported gas from Russia, is keen to develop its shale gas reserves.
In the United States, shale gas has created a glut of cheap energy and lowered carbon emissions because it has pushed out more polluting coal.
But many European Union politicians dispute the energy form’s environmental credentials. Debate in the EU parliament during the week emphasised the need for caution and tough regulation.
“I think the challenge we are facing is that generally an increase in GDP comes with an increase in emissions. We need to decouple these two elements,” Polish Environment Minister Marcin Korolec said in a telephone interview at the weekend.
“Especially during the economic crisis, we have the double challenge of needing cheap energy, but energy obtained in a sustainable way. We will not come out of the EU economic crisis if we continue to believe in the simple paradigm of high energy prices.”
Many analysts have said the U.S. shale gas revolution is very unlikely to be repeated in Europe because of different land ownership laws and high levels of public opposition.
Korolec said there was no reason shale gas could not happen in Europe, but acknowledged the need for regulation.
“Obviously we will need to stick to very strict environmental requirements and conditions we are already imposing on drillings,” he said.
Campaigners question whether the U.S. shift away from coal to shale gas will really lower emissions in the longer term, but Korolec said gas could be “an excellent avenue for reduction of emissions”.
He insisted the European Union was on track to meet its 2020 target to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent and repeated his firmly-held views there was no need for intervention to support the European Union‘s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which has sunk to levels too low to encourage low-carbon energy.
“This reduction (in emissions) will take place. We have a legislative guarantee of a reduction of CO2 in the perspective of 2020. We have a mechanism, the Emissions Trading Scheme. We are observing some fluctuations, but that is not the point,” Korolec said.
The Commission has proposed withholding permits starting with the next phase of the ETS in 2013 to remove some of the surplus generated by recession. That would have the effect of boosting the price of allowances and increasing the cost of burning carbon-intensive coal.
A meeting of technical experts on the Commission proposal on Wednesday was inconclusive. Most member states had yet to state a firm position, although Poland, together with Slovakia was opposed. The committee meets again in October. (Editing by Janet Lawrence)
