Germany has reportedly approved a law to ban fracking.

The proposal presented by Germany’s coalition government will prohibit the technique in clay formations which lie between 1,000 and 2,500 metres deep.

However, the new legislation allows scientific test drilling but only with the permission of the relevant state government.

Reports claims the German ban is indefinite but parliament will reassess it in 2021 under a compromise reached between the conservative Christian Democrats and the left wing Social Democrat.

Volker Kauder, Parliamentary Chief for Christian Democrats said: “We have a new situation where industry said that without any legal rules, we’ll simply start making requests. Therefore we had to act.”