Economists and politicians have been reassured that there is twice as much oil beneath the ground as humanity has used to date.  However, international security expert Nafeez Ahmed argues that nearly half of the 1.7 trillion barrels of oil still to be recovered does not actually exist. The discrepancy, reported …

Britain’s top banks are set for one of their worst first-quarter earnings seasons since the financial crisis, according to Lawrence White and Andrew Macaskill at Reuters: “Despite shoring up their capital bases and paying out strong dividends, the five biggest banks – HSBC (HSBA.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Standard Chartered (STAN.L), Lloyds …

Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey and Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards have both separately warned that another banking crisis is looming; and both believe central bank monetary policy is to blame.  According to Odey bank profitability is falling: “Banks need rights issues to deal with these losses but why would …

There is a big social division opening up over climate change according to Dana Nuccitelli at The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It is common knowledge that people with conservative political beliefs are more likely to reject evidence for man-made climate change.  But this is far from the only division.  Encouragingly, …

In a snub to climate denying politicians, US corporations have been queuing up to support new regulations designed to meet the carbon reduction targets in the Paris Agreement. According to Benjamin Hulac in Scientific American: “More than 100 companies—including brand-name firms like Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., HP Inc., Johnson & …

Centrica – the parent company of British Gas – has made a u-turn on its approach to energy generation according to Emily Gosden at the Telegraph. Previously, Centrica’s manifesto for cutting wind farms in favour of more large gas-fired power stations helped to inform the current UK energy policy.  However, …

Scientists at Umea University, Sweden warn that climate change is increasing the habitat range of mosquitos that were previously restricted to tropical regions. A combination of tourism and warming has already allowed mosquitos to migrate into Southern Europe in high summer.  However, as the northern hemisphere temperature increases, both the …

There was more bad news for George – “I forgot to mend the roof when the sun was shining” – Osborne today as North Sea tax receipts plummeted. North Sea oil and gas have been the backbone of the UK economy for the last three decades.  But production peaked in …

The age-old belief that economic growth – as measured by Gross Domestic Product – is the answer to our social ills is becoming untenable. The pursuit of GDP growth on a global scale led to the massive financial crash of 2008; the growing crisis in the energy sector; and a …

In 1969, the Club of Rome commissioned a group of scientists from a range of disciplines to generate a computer model of what would happen to humanity if we continued with business as usual.  The result was the publication of The Limits to Growth in 1972.  It’s conclusions made for …