"His message is clear: our world is built on abundant energy, around 80% of which has come from fossil fuels over the past 50 years. Because supplies are limited, energy consumption will peak in decades - sooner if humans attempt to limit climate change. To keep global warming below 1.5 °C by 2100, the use of fossil fuels must fall by 5-8% each year - a pace that is too fast for low-carbon energy to keep up with."
"Scientific research is no exception. It is not an abstract intellectual pursuit but a resource-intensive collective activity that is made possible by abundant energy. Laboratories, instruments, collaborations, digital infrastructure and funding agencies all depend on energy, resources and political continuity. If these foundations erode, so will research activities. They will decline, evolving at best into more-local and less-instrument-intensive forms reminiscent of those a century ago. Put bluntly, the current model of scientific research will not endure."
Around 80% of modern energy has come from fossil fuels, and limited supplies mean energy consumption will peak in coming decades. Achieving a 1.5 °C target requires 5–8% annual reductions in fossil-fuel use, a rate faster than low-carbon sources can replace. Shrinking energy availability will contract economies and force choices about travel, housing and labour. Research relies on energy-intensive laboratories, instruments, collaborations, digital infrastructure and funding; if energy and political continuity erode, research will become more local and less instrument-dependent, resembling practices from a century ago. The focus must shift to what role science can play amid imminent decline.
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