The European Commission published the results of the recent public consultation “Unconventional fossil fuels (e.g. shale gas) in Europe” at a meeting on 7 June 2013 in Brussels. 

Link: Presentation slides of the results. 

Three main groups of respondents were identified:

• Respondents in favour of the development of unconventional fossil fuels, identifying many potential benefits.
• Respondents that think that strict environmental and health safeguards should be put in place, more likely to want a regulation at the EU level.
• Respondents against, identifying many potential challenges, with some of them wanting a ban of unconventional fossil fuels in all the EU.

However, a large majority of respondents agree on the lack of adequate legislation, the need for public information and the lack of public acceptance of unconventional fossil fuels (e.g shale gas)

Among the policy options, “doing nothing at EU level” is the least favoured option by the majority of respondents

The purpose of the consultation was to provide understanding of the views on opportunities and challenges and possible ways to address the challenges associated with unconventional fossil fuels (e.g shale gas) extraction expressed by citizens, organisations and authorities across the EU (and beyond).