Low carbon marketing firm comments on implications of the Budget

In the Budget 2013 announcement yesterday, it was revealed that fracking companies will be given generous tax breaks to develop the UK’s shale gas market.

Companies will get a tax allowance and be able to offset exploration spending against tax for a decade. Fracking is a drilling technique that involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into deep wells to extract natural gas from shale rock. Critics are concerned about water pollution and small earth tremors.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne, said: “I want Britain to tap into new sources of low-cost energy like shale gas. [It] is part of the future.” Content Coms, a green-tech marketing specialist, is concerned about the environmental implications of shale gas and the effect on the renewable energy market.

Nicola Martin, Senior Environmental Writer at the Bristol-based energy marketing firm, says: “We are concerned that the Government is looking at short-term gain, rather than long-term benefit. Investing in renewable energy instead would enable the UK to develop clean and sustainable forms of energy production that will outlast fossil fuels.”

She adds: “This decision will also hamper the UK’s ability to meet its target to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.”

(Flickr.com image by altogetherfool).