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Investment Association also called on most developed economies to help firms meet Paris Agreement climate goals

An influential group of UK investors are urging G7 leaders to follow the UK’s lead by forcing firms to come clean about their exposure to climate risks.

In a letter to ambassadors and high commissioners sent ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall, the Investment Association (IA) also called on the world’s largest developed economies to issue sector-by-sector guidance to help firms plan to meet Paris Agreement climate goals, which aim to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees celsius.

Climate physicist and expert on thunderstorm electrification who was also a published poet

How thunderstorms are generated in clouds is still not fully understood. But John Latham, who has died aged 83, did much to explain the physical processes of cloud electrification, cloud lightning and precipitation – how water falls from clouds in various forms. Later he proposed a way in which clouds could provide a crucial if temporary role in reducing the impact of global warming.

The research he began under John (BJ) Mason in 1958 at what is now Imperial College London focused on the role of ice crystals in cloud electrification. His laboratory studies of thunderstorms involved the concept of a temperature difference between graupel – soft hail – and ice crystal surfaces. He and Mason developed the Temperature Gradient Theory and provided numerical predictions of the mechanism. Like all theories of thunderstorm electrification, it proved controversial.

The eminent Earth scientist argues that we cannot just wait for the world order to change when it comes to tackling the climate crisis – we all have a duty to act now

Johan Rockström is one of the world’s most influential Earth scientists. As director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, he advises governments, corporations and activists, including his Swedish compatriot, Greta Thunberg, about the latest research on the climate and biodiversity and argues for better science communication. Last year, he co-edited Standing Up for a Sustainable World, a book that brought together essays from climatologists, economists, environmental defenders, financiers and school strike activists. In recent months, he has teamed up with David Attenborough to create a new Netflix series, Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, participated in President Joe Biden’s climate summit and co-organised a declaration by more than 100 Nobel laureates.

The Nobel prize summit in April declared a planetary emergency. Why now? Scientists have known for at least three decades that human activity is destabilising the climate and accelerating the collapse of ecosystems.This statement, signed by 126 Nobel laureates, is a world record. Never before have we seen such a global uprising of Nobel prize winners. They issued an emergency call from science to humanity, calling for reason, truth and humanism in the transformation towards an equitable and prosperous future in a safe operating space.

People feel they have to choose between wealth and protecting the planet. That is an obsolete way of communicating

Tree-huggers and frontier activists are very important but they can’t tip this whole thing over by themselves

This is quite a nervous moment. We have all those positives but we are still on a negative trend line.

Environment minister Barbara Pompili says proposals will help country to meet net zero emissions

The country that gave the world foie gras, coq au vin and le steak frites is being asked to ditch its meat-heavy diet in favour of vegetarian options, as France embarks on a historic “culture shift” that will bring sweeping changes to all aspects of society, the French environment minister has said.

Meat will be off the menu at least one day a week in schools, while vegetarian options will be standard in public catering, and chefs will be trained in how to prepare healthy and toothsome plant-based meals.