J. David Hughes is a geoscientist who has studied the energy resources of Canada for four decades, including 32 years with the Geological Survey of Canada as a scientist and research manager. He developed the National Coal Inventory to determine the availability and environmental constraints associated with Canada’s coal resources. As Team Leader for Unconventional Gas on the Canadian Gas Potential Committee, he coordinated the publication of a comprehensive assessment of Canada’s unconventional natural gas potential. Over the past decade, Hughes has researched, published, and lectured widely on global energy and sustainability issues in North America and internationally.

In 2011, Hughes authored a series of papers on the production potential and environmental impacts of U.S. natural gas. In early 2013, he authored Drill, Baby, Drill: Can Unconventional Fuels Usher in a New Era of Energy Abundance?, which took a far-ranging and painstakingly researched look at the prospects for various unconventional fuels to provide energy abundance for the United States in the 21st century. In late 2013 he authored Drilling California: A Reality Check on the Monterey Shale, which critically examined the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) estimates of technically recoverable tight oil in the Monterey Shale, which the EIA claimed constituted two-thirds of U.S. tight oil; the EIA subsequently wrote down its resource estimate for the Monterey by 96%. In early 2014 he authored BC LNG: A Reality Check, which examined the issues surrounding the proposed massive scale up of shale gas production in British Columbia for LNG export.

Hughes is president of Global Sustainability Research, a consultancy dedicated to research on energy and sustainability issues. He is also a board member of Physicians, Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE Healthy Energy) and is a Fellow of Post Carbon Institute. Hughes contributed to Carbon Shift, an anthology edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon on the twin issues of peak energy and climate change, and his work has been featured in Nature, Canadian Business, Bloomberg, USA Today, as well as other popular press, radio, and television.