© David Holt via FlickrAnti-fracking protests in London last year.
Although only four countries - France, Bulgaria, Germany and Scotland - have an outright fracking ban at the moment, many districts in countries that allow fracking in some areas ban it in others.
This is true in the US and in Canada, where potential wells will not be developed because local authorities have refused permission.
The carrot for governments generally has been the promise from the fossil fuel companies of large quantities of cheaply-extracted gas that will last for decades and cut their reliance on imports.
Comment: Selling fracking to the public as a safe, alternative energy source is becoming increasingly problematic. But remember - in short - the public's concerns don't matter: Fracking - you are not important