There's probably no more important single number than how much energy we produce as a globe, nor a more important prediction of what direction that trend is heading. It's almost impossible to think of anything we care about that won't somehow be shaped by those numbers. So Adam and Jed speak with James Ward from University of South Australia, to discuss his co-authored study into projections of global fossil fuel production, and a complementary paper on whether we can decouple GDP growth from energy use and environmental impact.