Sign in

Nicholas Beuret

@nicholasbeuret.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.1K following 614 posts

It’s not doom if it’s a best case scenario. Author of Or Something Worse: Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition out 23 Sept 2025 @versobooks | linktr.ee/orsomethingworse Lecturer, University of Essex

PostsRepliesMedia
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Mapping the transition... 1. The reactionary politics of the war of transition 2. Fossil Capitalism's fight back 3. Emerging transition industries and forms of production 4. The rise of AI 5. How the conditions of production under climate stress tinyurl.com/32jj98yr
tinyurl.com
Mapping the transition...
Catching up on the climate economy
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
While debate over oil shipments continues, w actual figures unclear, ppl are forgetting that there is a huge list of crucial resources that are also not being shipped. Fertilizers, Helium and Aluminium are just three of the things not leaving the gulf, alongside transit cargo
001
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
What does the approaching El Niño mean for the world’s economies and for us? We are in a period of ever escalating costs. But we should understand El Niño not as just one more shock driving up prices, but as part of a climate supercycle tinyurl.com/j5xsyzvw | @theecologist.org
tinyurl.com
Godzilla El Niño is coming
What does the approaching El Niño mean for the world’s economies - and for us?
184
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
bsky.app/profile/nich...
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
It will go higher and get worse "Inflation in the Philippines was 6.1% in August, among the highest in south-east Asia and a level the central bank has forecast it will maintain for the full year. The country imports nearly all its oil and is highly reliant on food imports."
100
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
At the end of the C19th, El Niño combined with the brutality of European imperialism to kill tens of millions and created the Third World Will the combination of this years Godzilla En Niño and the conflict of the climate transition economy do the same? tinyurl.com/bzf67z7k
tinyurl.com
El Niño and the coming Great Green Divergence
What happens to the world after the climate shock?
021
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Energy debt in the UK has reached a record £5bn, as household bills are set to rise further in the coming months" "domestic customer debt and arrears outstanding for 91 days hit £5.02bn by the end of June, up 13% per cent year-on-year." tinyurl.com/3puendbc
tinyurl.com
Energy debt hits record £5bn as experts issue winter warning
Financial pressures will ‘intensify’ in the coming months, a debt charity has warned
010
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The ocean is not ok 👉 Half the world's oceans experienced heatwaves last year 👉 It became 17% more acidic between 1985 and 2025 👉 Salty areas are getting saltier 👉 Sea level rise increased from 3.8mm/yr to 4.2mm/yr
1126
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This will also make climate adaptation harder. Climate adaptation and disaster recovery depends on work done by migrants. ICE raiding Californian fire crews is an image of the future as the politics of climate fascism collide with economic reality tinyurl.com/2zzy2282
tinyurl.com
The war on migration is a war on climate adaptation
How ICE raids and Reform's policies mean your home won't get rebuilt after the flood
001
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The economic stupidity of Trump or Farage's policies as new though Anti-migration politics have been married to neoliberalism since the 90s, as have anti-terrorism laws. Neoliberalism needed an "enemy within" to function: alongside welfare cheats migrants were always "it" 4/5
100
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Worse, it happens just as the war on Iran and El Niño are turning the screws on the economy, while, partly supercharged by the AI bubble, the cost of govt borrowing is surging. No economic growth will come to Burnham's rescue this year. 3/5
100
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This was already visible last year "Reform’s plan, which it claims would net huge savings over the coming decades, would actually cost the UK about £70-90bn over the next ten years alone" tinyurl.com/47khwuue 2/5
tinyurl.com
Farage’s Trillion Pound Black Hole: The Real Cost of Reform UK’s Mass Deportation Plan
Exclusive: Reform's plan, which it claims would net huge savings over the coming decades, would actually cost the UK about £70-90bn over the next ten years alone, new analysis of official statistics a...
100
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The relentless right wing focus on migration is now causing significant economic problems. The UK's Labour govt will now have to find an additional £4bn - possibly £6.5bn - in the budget due to falling migration. Fewer migrants means we have less not more. 1/5
100
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This weeks round up! Melting roads and record temperatures; Trump's deportation regime; Diesel destroys the UK economy while robotaxis destroy the industry; and carbon offsets mapped. More in link! tinyurl.com/ye2m8d2y
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What if the climate transition isn't just happening alongside the decline of universities, but actively accelerating it? Between AI, demographic shifts, and economic pressure, what is the future of higher ed in a hotter world? Spoiler: mostly bad things.
020
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Higher ed is in crisis: jobs cut, wages falling, students squeezed. But how does this impact the fight against climate change? The net zero transition was promised as a "knowledge economy". So what happens if that story is falling apart? tinyurl.com/ytyrs65m 1/2
tinyurl.com
Does climate change need the university?
And if it does, what does the collapse of higher education mean for the transition?
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is long overdue, and hopefully spurs pressure for change. ME suffers, like long COVID sufferers, have been institutionally gaslit for far too long tinyurl.com/59m3b8wc
tinyurl.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
031
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
👉 tinyurl.com/3h7bpy8b /End
030
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is before we get to global drought conditions and weather systems going haywire. By the end of 2025, 30% of global land surface was in drought - 3 times the levels of the 90s. 5/6
130
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
From failing potato harvests to higher temps driving aphid infestations in England destroying salad crops, climate change is squeezing food supplies 4/6
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The next year will be dominated by food inflation - and food riots. El Niño will smash East Africa and SE Asia. But it won’t stop there. Food production is already in crises everywhere. 3/6
133
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This super cycle isn’t like past ones. It’s not driven by growth dynamics but by the return of scarcity and shortages. War isn’t an accident but part of the new imperial scramble for resources. A feature, not a bug. tinyurl.com/43tntsd9 2/6
tinyurl.com
Politicising Peak Oil - is the war on Iran a peak oil war?
How does the transition economy intersect with peak oil's return and war?
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The convergence of a ‘Godzilla’ El Niño, the war on Iran and the demand for critical minerals is all creating a massive spike in commodity prices But it’s not an ‘accidental’ convergence; it’s a new kind of commodity super cycle 👉 tinyurl.com/3h7bpy8b 1/6
131
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Osborne, as head of AI for countries at OpenAI, has to come out against NIMBYs to continue the data centre buildout, which is one of the few things keeping the whole AI ponzi scheme afloat. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
OpenAI’s George Osborne says datacentre nimbys holding back Britain
Former chancellor, now senior figure at OpenAI, says UK needs datacentres to maintain ‘sovereignty’ over AI tech
030
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wild. Not only did Osborne personally reduce Britain's GDP by 2% and cost theUK half a trillion pounds of public spending since 2010, his program of austerity caused at least 190,000 deaths between 2010 and 2019. But yeah, lets build data centres
184
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
As I wrote at the end of the thread, my pref is for a proper nationalisation of the sector and running foundational industries as public companies. But insofar as Burnham sticks to the neoliberal script, the article's point stands
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There's at least two measures - the loss of jobs and the destruction of communities, and the losses stemming from throwing money at private companies to continue to produce a strategic material.
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Trust me to write a thread and forget to add - no, I don't think profitability should be the core concern here. The govt has consistently taken a neoliberal approach to foundational industries, and the current half-arsed approach to steel is the worst possible one. Actual nationalisation would work.
040
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I didn't make it clear in the thread, but I'd go even further and suggest the govt is taking the worse approach possible by following a half-in, half-out approach to nationalisation. They should nationalise the sector properly and run it as a series public companies imho
140
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Worse, the latest casualty is a specialist green steel maker. If they can’t be run viably, there is little hope for other mills looking to transition. Worse still, the UK doesn’t even have the grid capacity to for them. bbc.co.uk/news/article... 3/3
bbc.co.uk
Electrical issue may delay Tata Steel's £1.25bn furnace in Port Talbot
Plans for £1.25bn steel-making furnace may be delayed by electrical connectivity problem, Tata says.
040
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Most of this is in China, with much lower production costs All three steel makers in the UK face identical problems tinyurl.com/4z9enam3 2/3
tinyurl.com
Is British Steel the betrayal of Port Talbot all over again?
On nationalising the risk of transition and socialising the costs
130
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Having already spent £500mn on propping up the steel sector, and just having nationalised a third steel maker, the British govt is now losing £1.3mn per day Burnham faces a hard choice as govt borrowing surges: let the sector fail, or find a way to make steel profitable. 1/3
752
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New weekly round up! The likely return of austerity as Europe's social legitimacy continues to collapse. Fuel protests and the crisis of social reproduction. The way to slow collapse of US empire and the changing nature of war. 👉 tinyurl.com/5cjkk6jy
tinyurl.com
Weekly round up
21 September 2026
010
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The investment in AI isn't just bc it promises to change everything. It's because it promises to change "change" itself AI is sold as pure innovation But what if instead AI kills off innovation for good? 👉 tinyurl.com/2z7wmvjc
010
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Another climate change supply shock to drive up food inflation This summer's heatwave has created a vast EU potato shortage 3.1mn tonnes have been lost, worth over of €800mn It's not just less, but smaller, less nutritious potatoes tinyurl.com/4an5pbkt
tinyurl.com
Chips are down – summer drought knocks over 3 million tonnes off UK…
Lost production could cost farmers over €800 million as Europe faces one of its smallest potato harvests on record
030
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The incoming ‘super’ El Niño will create chaos around the world. And we are far from ready for it | Bill McGuire
One of the biggest upheavals in a millennium is on its way, strengthened by the climate crisis. We need leaders who make things better not worse, says climate professor Bill McGuire
000
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"the recession of 2008 resulted in global GDP reducing by around $2tn, the 1997–98 super-El Niño resulted in losses of $5.7tn...The late-90s El Niño – the most powerful of the 20th century – peaked at 2.4C; the current one is already at 2.7C..." And is heading to over 3C
121
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
But as with the other mills, its unclear if the Labour govt has the appetite to maintain steel as a nationalised industry, or if it is just going to find a way to make them viable before privatising them once more End
020
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Blastr had its proposal for acquisition refused as it was deemed unreliable, threatening a rinse & repeat of numerous other failed steel bids. The mill is also strategically critical and taking the company into public ownership was safer than Blastr's bid 4/5
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Speciality Steel is the UK’s third-biggest steelmaker and the largest producer of “green steel” for aerospace, defence & energy sectors at its six sites" It's not been producing for the past yr and the wages of the 1450 staff are being paid by govt at a cost of £3.5mn/mth 3/5
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Going green has been touted as the way to make the other 2 at-risk steel ops in the UK viable, including British Steel and Tata's Port Talbot tinyurl.com/4z9enam3 2/5
tinyurl.com
Is British Steel the betrayal of Port Talbot all over again?
On nationalising the risk of transition and socialising the costs
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The UK govt is going to takeover another steel mill currently in receivership - Yorkshire-based Speciality Steel UK This is important bc its a specialist 'green steel' plant, and still isn't 'economically viable' Going green doesn't = being saved 1/5
120
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
...and the threat of further Sami dispossession and injustice in the Swedish election the "Christian Democrats party... called for reindeer numbers to be cut... and for the state to “reclaim responsibility” for land used by herders.”
010
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The weekly climate transition round up is out! This week – falling PISA scores & climate stupidogenesis, heat-induced learning loss, US AI cartel cold-war tactics, peak shale oils, and the rise of small language models! nicholasbeuret.substack.com/p/weekly-rou...
nicholasbeuret.substack.com
Weekly round up
14 September 2026
112
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Open weight isn't open source, but offers a much better pathway to independence than closed weight, and is largely bound up with national economies not trying to subjugate the world (i.e., they aren't American) End
011
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Its increasingly clear small models (SLMs) are more than enough for the most common purposes, & when specialised offer powerful advantages, not least bc we know [Mathgate!] that Big AI is not just stealing existing material, but crucial internal ops data and work-in-progress 2/3
111
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The threat of being "AI sanctioned", which is real, is not because of the failure of EU tech investment, but because the US has become the biggest threat to Europe The answer isn't to try to copy the US's disastrous data centre roll out. It's to go small, and open weight 1/3
112
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Big Pharma's climate strategy basically boils down to: "Just take a pill and keep going to work." 💊🌡️ What happens when medicalised adaptation hits a hard limit? And who profits from the pills not working anymore? tinyurl.com/4knhb68d
010
Nicholas Beuret @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Weekly round up! The Left is still getting education wrong while AI takes over teaching undergrads, insurance companies rake in profits, & Polymarket turns climate disasters into the next hot betting trend Oh, and oil drilling still won't save your job tinyurl.com/4wnndxtp
020