Introduction: Shale Gas and the Future of Energy
Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016)
17 Pages Posted: 4 May 2016 Last revised: 7 May 2016
Date Written: May 3, 2016
Abstract
This is the introduction to the first book systematically exploring the relationship between shale gas and sustainable development, Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016). It describes the growing importance of unconventional shale gas and the evolution of sustainable development as a policy norm, and explains that there has been little analysis of the relationship between unconventional shale gas and sustainability. The introduction then summarizes twelve chapters by the contributing authors, who are not only lawyers and current and former policy makers, but also from public health, the social sciences, economics, and other disciplines. Each chapter addresses (1) what sustainability means for their particular topic, (2) what various governmental entities and private sector parties are doing to foster sustainability on this topic, and (3) recommendations for ways to foster sustainable practices in shale gas development. Their chapters cover five broad topics: public health and the environment; community; public participation, public information, and access to justice; governance; and energy and climate change. As the introduction explains, a final chapter synthesizes what all of these chapters, taken together, mean for the sustainability of shale gas.
Keywords: shale gas, sustainability, sustainable development, Shale Gas and the Future of Energy, energy, energy law, unconventional shale gas development
JEL Classification: K00, K10, K32, Q00, Q01, Q10, Q2, Q3, Q4
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation