Green groups have slammed a new report by the International Energy Association (IEA), which set out a set of "golden rules" that could help the world's fledgling shale gas industry triple the supply of unconventional natural gases to 1.6 trillion cubic metres per year by 2035.
The IEA launched a new report today to help shale gas companies address key environmental concerns about the controversial extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking".
However, WWF and Friends of the Earth, warned that a boom in shale gas would prevent countries from reaching the globally agreed goal of limiting the temperature rise to 2°C.
A number of countries including the UK are seeking to expand their supply of shale gas, emulating the success of exploration in North America, where shale supplied 23 per cent of total gas production in 2010.
While the UK's reserves are nowhere near the size of America's, it is still estimated to have 200 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in Lancashire alone - This in time could supply 10% of Uk gas needs. But a report by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research last year warned burning a fifth of this would use up 15 per cent of the UK's carbon budgets to 2050.
IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said adopting the rules could push up the price of energy by seven per cent, but it would also earn the industry a "social licence" to operate.
WWF criticised the IEA's report for promoting shale gas while at the same time acknowledging that it would fail to reduce the impacts of climate change.
"A golden age for gas is clearly very far from a golden age for the planet. Buried in the depths of this report is the bombshell that a global dash for unconventional gas will condemn us to warming of at least 3.5°C," said Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK.
"Those who claim that shale gas is some sort of wonder fuel that can tackle climate change are seriously misleading the public – the reality is that it is a dangerous distraction from energy efficiency and clean renewable energy.
Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner Tony Bosworth also urged governments to focus their efforts on growing renewable supplies.
"Drilling for shale and other unconventional gas would put the world on course for catastrophic climate change - incomprehensible when we have clean energy solutions at our fingertips like wind and solar power," he said.