America’s Fracking Boom Is Tilting the World Toward Climate Disaster

The fate of the vast quantities of oil and gas lodged under the shale, mud and sandstone of American drilling fields will in large part determine whether the world retains a livable climate. And the US, the world’s largest extractor of oil, is poised to unleash these fossil fuels in spectacular volumes.

Planned drilling projects across US land and waters will release 140 billon metric tons of planet-heating gases if fully realized, an analysis shared with the Guardian has found.

The study, to be published in the Energy Policy journal this month, found emissions from these oil...