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Fracking

Protesters at Kirby Misperton walk along a road holding banners and wearing high-vis jackets
Protesters at Kirby Misperton Kirby Misperton Protection Camp

CPRE has long campaigned against fracking, and we’ve helped to cultivate a powerful collective voice to ensure fracking remains off the table.

Fracking contributes to climate change – the biggest threat to our countryside. It has no place in a zero-carbon future. Shale gas extraction can cause air and sound pollution, and the toxic chemicals used to frack can leech into our waterways and harm wildlife. Drilling to extract even more polluting fossil fuels is not the solution to the energy crisis, nor will it affect prices. or energy security.

We’ve launched two campaigns against fracking; one in 2019 and one in 2022. Your support, donations, and signatures have helped us beat it twice. In both of these campaigns, we sent a clear message to government: fracking is bad for the countryside, bad for the climate, and is not accepted by local communities.

In 2019, we ran a hard hitting campaign to stop the government fast-tracking fracking. Thanks to the collective campaigning of many, common sense prevailed and the government dropped its proposals. The Conservatives then enshrined their opposition to fracking in their 2019 manifesto, saying the party would ‘not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely’.

How we defeated fracking in 2019

In 2022, Liz Truss broke her own party’s manifesto pledge and lifted the moratorium on fracking. We ran an explosive campaign alongside 38 Degrees, and our petition garnered the support of over 80,000 people. Just 34 days later, the fracking ban was reinstated.

Explainers

Dive deeper into the topics we care about with our handy explainer guides.