Wind, solar, and batteries are already the cheapest source of electricity and an aggressive shift to clean energy makes more economic sense than a slow one, according to a new study. However, an enormous lobbying effort is underway to block climate policy in the $3.5 trillion budget bill under consideration.

The Green Party accused Labour of helping the biomass energy producer engage in "green spin of the worst kind".

The government still contains four ministers who criticised “government-subsidised green technology” back in 2012, but one of them seems to have changed his mind about state intervention since then, and there are some new environmentally-friendly faces around too.

Campaigners have criticised Captain Ian Finley, a UK resident who has represented the Cook Islands at the International Maritime Organization since 2006, for consistently defending industry interests.

The union dubbed plans to shift away from fossil-fuelled heating “utterly absurd”, a statement one union member called “disappointing”.

Dolphins killed during Ida’s storm surge are a reminder of how vulnerable Louisiana's marine life is to climate change. And locals worry a controversial river diversion project to increase the state’s marshland could make things even worse.

After expressing support for carbon pricing earlier this year, the American Petroleum Institute and other oil lobby groups are pressuring Congress to not put a tax on methane. Critics see yet another cynical attempt to block climate action.

The Global Warming Policy Forum has a “laughable record of inaccurate and misleading claims” about climate and energy policy, said one expert.

Quentin Willson has left FairFuelUK, an anti-fuel duty group backed by several MPs, over its "lack of environmental sensibilities" and a report it recently released containing "unforgivable howlers”.

Geoffrey Supran, a climate researcher at Harvard University, said the UK government had its priorities “completely backwards” if the meetings could be seen as a proxy for where ministers were focusing attention.