Radio Mundo Real

Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth US warned on Wednesday that the European Union and the US must not exploit the Ukraine crisis to fast-track further fossil fuel development on both regions.

In a joint press release, the environmental organizations stated that “the ongoing crisis in Ukraine is being used to promote increased shale gas trade and development (…) and to open Europe’s doors to tar sands – the dirtiest fossil fuel in commercial production”.

Yesterday, US Secretary of State, John Kerry and the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, had an emergency meeting on energy issues.

Two days earlier, the UN report on Climate Change warned about the increase of extreme weather, such as heat waves, extreme precipitation and floods in coastal areas. Fracking, a technique used to extract shale gas represents significant emissions of methane gas, one of the most important green house gases (that cause climate change).

To know more about these issues and the position of Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth US, Real World Radio interviewed extractive industries campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, Colin Roche.