This is the introduction to the first book systematically exploring the relationship between shale gas and sustainable development, Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016). It describes the growing importance of unconventional shale gas and the...

The sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has the potential to accelerate or hinder the transition to sustainability, depending on how it is handled. Sustainable development is a useful evaluative framework for shale gas development. It would have us analyze its environmental, social,...