Fracking will be banned in Scotland if Jim Murphy becomes First Minister in 2016.
The Labour leader has also called on the SNP to use existing planning powers to block the controversial practice.
Mr Murphy said the environmental case for fracking, a technique designed to recover gas and oil from shale rock, has not yet been made and that under his leadership, it would not take place until effective safeguards were in place.
In a move that is likely to be viewed as a pitch to traditional Labour voters and those who are considering backing the Greens, he said fracking would be banned north of the border until lessons from the rest of the UK were learned. He also pledged that a local referendum and a comprehensive review of environmental conditions would have to be held before planning permission was granted.
New powers over fracking are set to be devolved to Scotland under the Smith Agreement process and Labour has called on the UK Government to issue no licences for fracking until control is transferred.
Mr Murphy said that members of the public were "rightly concerned" about shale gas and that he would not allow Scotland to become a "guinea pig for fracking".
He added: "If I am elected first minister in 2016 there will be no onshore fracking in Scotland until it has been shown beyond all doubt that it can be carried out safely.
"The SNP Government in Edinburgh already has a veto over fracking through planning and permitting. The First Minister should use these powers now to stop any fracking taking place in Scotland."
The Green Party has already called for UK Government to suspend its plans to award licenses to frack for gas across Scotland. A petition launched by the party on Monday has been signed by more than 5,000 people.
WWF Scotland welcomed the policy announcement and called on the Scottish Government to "come off the fence". However, Mr Murphy was accused by Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Murdo Fraser of "desperate scrambling around" for "issues which give him political traction".
"It was only last year that all parties came together to help secure the future of the Ineos plant at Grangemouth," he added. "That relies on the supply of shale gas - and simply opposing it will only threaten this vital plant again."
Meanwhile, Ken Cronin, chief executive of industry body UK Onshore Oil & Gas, said a moratorium of fracking in Scotland would "achieve nothing".
He added: "One of the first hydraulic fractures in the UK took place in Airdrie nearly 50 years ago and fracking also took place inside the Glasgow city boundary in 1989 at Easterhouse. Scotland is therefore no guinea pig.
"Onshore Gas and Oil is also important for jobs both in terms of extraction but also those supporting the raw material production in places such as Grangemouth, which go into everything from medicine and clothing, through to buildings vehicles and computers."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article