FT: Shale gas boom sparks EU coal revival

The shale gas boom in the US is having a surprise knock-on effect in Europe – a big increase in the burning of coal by European utilities, despite EU environmental policies designed to curb the share of polluting fossil fuels in the energy mix.

The trend shows how disruptive shale gas has become for traditional industries, leading to unforeseen – and often perverse – outcomes across the global energy system.

North America’s fracking revolution pushed down US natural gas prices to 10-year lows last spring, prompting electricity generators to switch to gas from coal. Unwanted at home, US coal increasingly found its way on to European markets, where it has displaced more expensive gas as a feedstock for power stations.

But many experts believe coal’s European revival will be shortlived, and that it is essentially the last gasp of a fuel with no long-term future.   MORE