COP28: Deal agreed for global transition away from fossil fuels, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week

Negotiators from almost 200 countries have agreed a deal at the COP28 climate talks to reduce global consumption of fossil fuels, in order to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

The agreement marks the first time a UN climate summit has mentioned reducing the use of all fossil fuels.

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber labelled the deal "historic", adding that its true success would be in how it is implemented around the world.

"We are what we do, not what we say," he told the audience at the summit. "We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions."

However, delegates including Australia, the European Union, Norway, the United States and many Pacific Island nations were disappointed the deal didn't include a universal commitment to phase out fossil fuel use.

Six major dairy companies have committed to disclose their methane emissions as part of a new global alliance launched at the COP28 summit.

Rearing livestock generates almost a third of the world's human-made methane emissions, according to a UN Food and Agriculture Organization report.

As members of the Dairy Methane Action Alliance, the six dairy companies – Danone, Bel Group, General Mills, Lactalis USA, Kraft Heinz and Nestlé – will start reporting their methane emissions by the middle of next year and prepare action plans to cut these emissions by the end of 2024.

Methane emissions are almost 30 times more harmful than CO2 in terms of their potential to trap heat in the atmosphere, but they remain in the atmosphere for much less time, the US Environmental Protection Agency says. As such, curbing methane emissions provides an effective near-term method of tackling global warming.

Agriculture is the planet's leading source of methane emissions, which have been increasing steadily this century and exceeded 3.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent in 2020.

Methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a toxic air pollutant and greenhouse gas that causes 1 million premature deaths annually, according to the UN Environment Programme.

COP28 climate pledges are not enough to keep global warming to within the 1.5°C climate target, an International Energy Agency assessment says. Current commitments would reduce emissions by less than a third of what is needed to keep temperatures within the Paris Agreement "safe" limit.

More than 60 countries signed up to a "cooling pledge" at COP28. The aim is to curb the climate impact of the cooling sector, increase access to life-saving cooling, ease pressure on energy grids and save trillions of dollars by 2050, according to the UN Environmental Programme.

A massive coral bleaching event is predicted for 2024, following on from a 2023 that is expected to become the hottest year ever recorded, according to marine scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia. The bleaching could severely disrupt marine ecosystems.

Carbon pricing and redirecting fossil fuel subsidies could raise trillions to fund efforts to tackle the climate crisis, says Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. "When you put a price on carbon, decarbonization accelerates," she says.

Wealthy nations should pay the Global South at least $209 billion annually to fund the phase-out of fossil fuels, with the US and EU making up the bulk of the payment, according to a new study by the Civil Society Equity Review, released at COP28.

Five key planetary tipping points could be triggered within a decade, which could severely damage our planet's life support systems and threaten the stability of our societies, according to new collaborative research launched at COP28.

Ancient redwood trees affected by forest fires in the US have been able to regrow by using energy reserves stored beneath their bark for centuries. The trees have extracted sugar from buds that have lain dormant for extended periods, a paper published in Nature Plants says.

As the COP28 summit calls to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, here are three ways to overcome current obstacles to the rollout of offshore wind and help the sector regain its earlier momentum.

Plastics are both a ubiquitous part of modern life and a persistent environmental challenge. Here are five innovations helping to recycle more plastic, reduce microplastics in water and cut emissions.

Explore a photographer's underwater gallery, which highlights the devastating impact of rising sea levels on Pacific Island communities who are on the frontline of the climate crisis.