Whatever the industry, get the regulations wrong and you have a recipe for disaster.  We all know this to our cost following the banking crash of 2008, which stems from round after round of deregulation since Thatcher and Reagan.  When regulators establish a framework that allows fraud, fraud is precisely …

Economists and central bankers often chastise us for likening the global capitalist system to a game of Monopoly.  But according to US investment advisor Bill Gross from Janus Capital that is exactly how we should see it: “If only Fed Governors and Presidents understood a little bit more about Monopoly, …

The biggest obstacle to tackling runaway climate change is that while prevention involves the richest people in the richest countries giving up their unsustainable lifestyles, the impacts of climate change have been falling largely on the shoulders of the poorest people in the poorest countries. Delegates at a two day …

With oil prices still struggling to reach $50 per barrel after two years of unsustainably low prices, energy companies are filing for bankruptcy, hundreds of thousands of workers are being laid off, and governments are struggling to make up for the lost tax revenue.  If this were not bad enough …

A new report by the Committee on Climate Change – an independent scientific body that advises the UK government – has warned that hydraulically fractured shale gas is incompatible with the UK government’s self-imposed target of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. According to Tereza Pultarova in Engineering …

A few years ago, eye-wateringly high oil prices combined with concern about climate change gave impetus to the manufacture of electric vehicles.  Several companies were already producing hybrid cars that switch between electric and petroleum motors.  But rising oil prices paved the way for entirely electric vehicles.  These are now …

Following the referendum vote to leave the European Union, the Bank of England Financial Policy Committee has highlighted the biggest dangers to the UK economy.  These include the potential for a crash in commercial property, the growing current account (balance of payments) deficit, fragile markets and problems in the wider …

Chris Matthews at Fortune repeats the somewhat incredible claim that: “According to a new analysis from oil and gas consulting firm Rystad Energy, the United States is the country with the largest volume of oil reserves, with Russia and Saudi Arabia coming in second and third, respectively.” Based on estimates …

Electricity industry insiders are calling for a radical shake up of the way in which energy bills are calculated in an attempt to prevent the UK descending into an energy death spiral.  The latest to speak out are Iain Conn, CEO of British Gas owner Centrica, and Vincent de Rivaz, …

Following the election of a Tory government in 2015, the UK has quietly dropped any pretence that it will meet 2020 EU climate targets.  However, the government still maintains the fiction that it can achieve its Climate Change Act target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. …