In reaction to Algeria’s plan to attract more investment in the fossil fuel sector, notably shale gas, to meet local energy consumption, Julien Jreissati, Arab World campaigner at Greenpeace Mediterranean said: “Shale fossil fuel is the dirtiest of them all as it is retrieved via fracking, a destructive process which will jeopardize the country’s limited water resources and will impact the most vulnerable communities.”
The Algerian government ambitions to offer tax incentives through a new energy law which will make investment in dirty fossil fuel, notably highly controversial shale gas, more attractive to foreign companies. “Instead of digging further underground for dirty solutions, the government should look up into the sky and realize that Algeria’s true wealth lies in its glowing sun” declared Jreissati. “In a time of global climate urgency, we urge the Algerian government to drop once and for all its shale gas ambitions and unleash the full potential of solar energy that could fill their energy needs and beyond” he concluded.