Euan Mearns has a BSc (hons) in geology (1979) and a Ph.D. in isotope geochemistry (1984) both from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with the geochronology and crust-forming processes of western Norway, a research theme he pursued for a further 8 years doing post-doctoral research at the Geological Museum, the University of Oslo. One focus was on the origins of high-pressure eclogites and garnet peridotites that are common throughout the Western Gneiss Region of Norway.

In 1991 he returned to native Aberdeen to establish a commercial radiogenic isotope analysis laboratory providing services to the international oil industry. In the period 1991 to 2002 his company worked for 65 oil companies and oil industry service companies, world-wide.

In 2013 he founded a blog called Energy Matters to provide an outlet for his research into the global energy system and related climate issues. His interests in climate are focused on ice cores, climate history, planetary processes that cause climate change such as plate tectonics, ocean currents and factors linked to the cosmogenic isotope records.

In 2018 he was asked to perform a technical and English language edit on the book “New Ways and Needs for Exploiting Nuclear Energy” authored by Sornette. D, Kruger, W. and Wheatley, S. This led to a position at the Chair of Entrepreneurial Risks, ETH Zurich, that came to an end in 2022. Significant works include a book on earthquake prediction in China, 1966 to 1976, and a paper published in Energy Policy (2023) that provides a critical review of the Swiss net zero CO₂ strategy.