Take your pick of alarmist projections about the future of the global economy from top tech leaders. Monzo’s founder, Tom Blomfield, reckons unemployment will surge over the next five years as more and more human output is replaced by AI. Elon Musk reckons it will be near 100 per cent in a decade.  But projections are one thing. What is actually happening on the ground right now? I’ve been sent some fascinating data on AI spend by Capital on Tap, one of the UK’s biggest SME lenders. The firm tracks spending patterns among…

Aviation is often treated as one of oil's safest remaining markets. In 2026 that still looks like a reasonable assumption. Airlines are expected to consume around 104 billion gallons of fuel this year, sustainable aviation fuel remains below 1% of total use, and virtually every commercial passenger aircraft in service still depends on liquid hydrocarbons. But that view risks making the same mistake the oil industry made with cars: looking at the installed fleet rather than at the technology competing for the next route. On July 30, Archer's all-electric…

The Trump administration is pushing for a homegrown nuclear power renaissance. The United States is still the largest producer of nuclear energy in the world, but that won’t last long without drastic changes in energy policy and investment at the state and federal level. The United States’ nuclear energy fleet, while sizable, is aging out, with far more plants being decommissioned than coming online. Moreover, the country is heavily dependent on foreign imports of nuclear fuel, presenting another major challenge for Trump’s goal…

With a new Prime Minister in office, it is uncertain whether the United Kingdom will continue accelerating its green transition or backtrack on climate pledges to support fossil fuel development. Many have speculated that the new Labour Party PM Andy Burnham will back North Sea oil and gas projects. However, since taking power in 2024, the Labour Party has introduced a wide range of energy policies supporting renewable energy development and grid infrastructure updates, as well as restrictions on new oil and gas drilling. Before taking over as…

Following a year of tighter sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on refineries, ports and tankers, Russia’s crude output has fallen further in the second half of 2026, severely affecting the nation’s crude production outlook. Factoring in these disruptions, Rystad Energy has revised its Russian crude production forecast to average 8.95 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2026, before declining to around 8.6 million bpd in 2027. This represents a decline of 90,000 bpd compared with our previous forecast, reflecting the continued impact of renewed…

Over the past 15 years, Mexico has faced a severe seaweed problem, with vast quantities of a brown seaweed known as sargassum washing up on beaches along the Caribbean coast and hitting the tourism industry hard. Researchers are yet to find an effective way to prevent the seaweed from washing ashore or to effectively predict its movement. As the Mexican government attempts to manage the huge quantities of seaweed each year, researchers are exploring potential uses for the algae, such as biofuel or fertiliser. As much as 9,000 tons of seaweed is…