Shocking new research has revealed that Tory-backed fracking will make it impossible to meet our net-zero target for carbon emissions in this century.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn joined anti-fracking protesters at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site and highlighted the latest findings. If the UK fully exploits its shale gas reserves, the amount of carbon released would eliminate any hope of the government meeting its 2050 net-zero target. Even if progress continues at its current rate, the government’s target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will be missed by nearly 50 years. The emissions released by fracking would further push that back by decades.

Labour is calling on Boris Johnson to stand up to big business interests and ban fracking. Instead the Prime Minister ‘bends the knee’ to companies who want to profit from fracking. The Conservatives have backed new fracking sites, despite fierce opposition from local communities, and warnings from scientists and climate change experts.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has failed to outline any policies to address the climate emergency, reduce carbon emissions or deliver renewable energy.

Johnson’s newly-appointed Business Secretary – Andrea Leadsom – is a vocal supporter of fracking who has admitted that she questioned whether climate change was real and dismissed warnings about the environmental impact of fracking as “scaremongering”. Theresa Villiers, the new Environment Secretary, voted against a ban on fracking, while Johnson himself has referred to global warming as a “primitive fear” that is “without foundation”.

We need urgent action to tackle the climate emergency, and that means the Prime Minister immediately banning fracking. Tackling the climate emergency cannot be left to the free market. Labour will ban fracking because we know that it’s the next generation and the world’s poorest who will pay the price if this Conservative government continues to put the interests of a few polluters ahead of people and the planet.