Liz Truss's government has lifted the fracking ban despite safety fears - paving the way for more than 100 new licences being granted to search for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said the move wil help strengthen the UK's energy security "in light of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of energy".
But Labour described the plans as a "dangerous fantasy" that will "do nothing to cut energy bills".
Ms Truss has repeatedly promised that she will not authorise “anything that carries a risk”.
Today, scientists have warned it is impossible to say if fracking will cause earthquakes, but in the same breath noted that the process "can trigger earthquakes large enough to cause structural damage".
The Government has argued that the limited understanding should not be a barrier to fracking, but instead a reason to drill more wells to gather more data.
A British Geological Survey review into its safety said it's "challenging" to estimate the maximum earthquake magintudes that fracking could cause.
The review suggested more drilling is required to establish data on the impact of extraction on earthquakes, but did not deem the process competely safe.
Scientists said: "The limited number of HF [Hydraulic Fracking] operations in the UK (three exploratory wells), makes it impossible to determine with statistical significance the rates of occurrence of induced seismicity from HF operations using solely national data, underlying the importance of international collaboration and knowledge exchange in monitoring and operational practices."
The review added: “Induced seismicity has been observed in other industries related to underground energy production both in the UK and elsewhere. In the absence of a seismic building code in the UK, consistent risk targets, i.e., scenarios to be avoided, could be considered for all energy related industries that present a risk of induced earthquakes.”
“Forecasting the occurrence of large earthquakes and their expected magnitude remains a scientific challenge for the geoscience community.”
A statement from the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Lifting the pause on shale gas extraction will enable drilling to gather this further data, building an understanding of UK shale gas resources and how we can safely carry out shale gas extraction in the UK where there is local support.”
The 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged not to lift England’s moratorium unless fracking was scientifically proven to be safe amid concerns over earthquakes.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “In light of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of energy, strengthening our energy security is an absolute priority, and – as the Prime Minister said – we are going to ensure the UK is a net energy exporter by 2040.
“To get there we will need to explore all avenues available to us through solar, wind, oil and gas production – so it’s right that we’ve lifted the pause to realise any potential sources of domestic gas.”
Shadow Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has accused the Government of breaking “yet another manifesto promise”, calling fracking a “dangerous fantasy”.
“We now have an energy policy run for big fossil fuel interests not for the British people. No to the windfall tax and yes to dangerous, unsafe fracking."
Speaking to reporters in New York on Wednesday Ms Truss stressed the need to find new energy sources amid a crisis worsened by Putin ’s war in Ukraine.
“The context we’re talking about here is we don’t have enough domestic energy supplies," she said.
“Fracking is a part of the energy mix – we should be looking at all options. No option should be off the table to improve our energy security because that’s the number one issue we face.
“We will not be going ahead with anything that carries a risk but I’m clear that energy security is vital.”
