Extraordinary general meeting of the UK writers’ union narrowly voted against making an official protest at violence that has killed ‘at least 95 journalists and media workers’

The Society of Authors (SoA) has come under fire from all sides after members voted against a resolution demanding it issue an official statement condemning Israel’s military action in Gaza.

The campaign group Fossil Free Books (FFB) submitted two motions to the SoA, the UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators and translators, triggering an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday night. Members voted 1,480 to 251 in favour of the first, which called for the publishing industry to divest from ties with the fossil fuels industry. Calls for the book industry to break ties with investment firm Baillie Gifford , which sponsors the UK’s most prestigious nonfiction prize and a number of literary festivals, began after Greta Thunberg pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the Edinburgh international book festival last year. Since then, FFB was formed, and a number of authors have continued to speak out against Baillie Gifford, which has a proportion of its investments in corporations that profit from fossil fuels.

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Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are ‘playing politics with climate’

Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move which campaigners say is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that it is granting licences to about 30 companies to look for hydrocarbons on sites earmarked for future offshore windfarms.

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Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies’ own flaring data

Oil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.

Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring.

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Agreement gives leeway to countries heavily reliant on coal and allows power plants fitted with carbon-capture technology

Ministers from the G7 countries agreed on Tuesday to end the use of unabated coal power plants by 2035 – but left the door open for those heavily reliant on coal to breach the deadline.

After two days of talks in Turin, Italy, they published a pledge to “phase out existing unabated coal power generation in our energy systems during the first half of 2030s” to curb the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.

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Campaigners say last-minute compromise plays into the hands of petrostates and industry influences

Campaigners are blaming developed countries for capitulating at the last minute to pressure from fossil fuel and industry lobbyists, and slowing progress towards the first global treaty to cut plastic waste.

Delegates concluded talks in Ottawa, Canada, late on Monday, with no agreement on a proposal for global reductions in the $712bn (£610bn) plastic production industry by 2040 to address twin issues of plastic waste and huge carbon emissions.

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Ali died of cancer last year. He was 21. It was the thick smoke from one of the world’s biggest oilfields that made him sick

A year has passed since my beautiful boy Ali Julood died. Not a day goes by when I do not think of him smiling and playing football with his friends outside. Those days are gone. As a father, that gives me great pain.

Ali was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 15. The cancer caused him to drop out of school, leave his football team and spend years undergoing painful medical treatment. He died at the age of 21 on 21 April 2023.

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Proposed global treaty to curb production represents challenge to producers of fossil fuels, from which most plastics are made

The number of fossil fuel and petrochemical industry lobbyists at UN talks to agree the first global treaty to cut plastic pollution has increased by more than a third, according to an analysis.

Most plastic is made from fossil fuels, via a chemical process known as cracking, and 196 lobbyists from both industries are at the UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, where countries are attempting to come to an agreement to curb plastic production as part of a treaty to cut global plastic waste, according to analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel).

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The cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C, study finds

Average incomes will fall by almost a fifth within the next 26 years as a result of the climate crisis, according to a new study that shows the costs of damage are six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C.

Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather are projected to cause $38tn (£30tn) of destruction each year by mid-century, shows the research published in the journal Nature , which is the most comprehensive analysis of its type ever undertaken.

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The percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress is increasing by about 1% a week, scientists say

Global heating has pushed the world’s coral reefs to a fourth planet-wide mass bleaching event that is on track to be the most extensive on record, US government scientists have confirmed.

Some 54% of ocean waters containing coral reefs have experienced heat stress high enough to cause bleaching, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch said.

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