Greenwashing gas: Might a 'transition fuel' label legitimize carbon-intensive natural gas development?

Natural gas is widely considered to be the crucial bridging fuel in the transition to the low-carbon energy systems necessary to mitigate climate change. This paper develops a case study of the shale gas industry in British Columbia (BC), Canada to evaluate this assumption. We find that the transition fuel argument for gas development in BC is unsubstantiated by the best available evidence. Emissions factors for shale gas and LNG remain poorly characterized and contested in the academic literature, and context-specific factors have significant impacts on the lifecycle emissions of shale gas but have not been evaluated. Moreover, while the province has attempted to frame natural gas development within its ambitious climate change policy, this framing misrepresents substantive policy on gas production. The transition fuel and climate solution labels applied to development by the BC provincial government risk legitimizing carbon-intensive gas development. We argue that policy makers in BC and beyond should abandon the transition fuel characterization of natural gas. Instead, decision making about natural gas development should proceed through transparent engagement with the best available evidence to ensure that natural gas lives up to its best potential in supporting a transition to a low-carbon energy system. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.