The global energy transition from carbon-intensive to renewable fuels has increasingly demanded a better understanding of the causes and consequences of the rapid development of unconventional oil and gas. Focusing on key countries including the United States, Canada, China, Argentina, the United Kingdom and Australia, this book consists of case studies and in-depth analyses that weigh up the risks and rewards at regional, national and global scales. Explaining how and why unconventional fuels are transforming the global energy landscape, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are explored through a political, economic and governance-based perspective. Emphasis is placed on how to regulate the industry, encompassing local issues, stakeholder engagement and the social licence to operate. The new baseline studies and standards introduced in this book provide a timely insight into the trade-offs across the social, economic and environmental domains, making this ideal for researchers and policymakers in energy fields, and for graduate students.

'Risks, Rewards and Regulation of Unconventional Gas is a useful and thought-provoking book. It provides a foundation for further research and analysis. A complete reading brings to the surface two general issues that might otherwise lay hidden in the deeper strata of law and policy. First, what is the role of higher-order rules in the development of unconventional gas? … Second, the book also raises (by the vacuum of omission) the most interesting and important question in natural resources law today: to what degree are governments and institutions victims of ‘regulatory capture’?'

James Hickling Source: The Cambridge Law Journal