January 2024 On 10th January 2024, the House of Commons passed the ,,Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill. Also described as the 'Anti-Boycott Bill', this piece of legislation would make it illegal for local councils, universities and other public bodies to boycott or divest from foreign states if those decision diverge from national foreign policy. The only geographies named in the bill explicitly are Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories - the conflation of the two, especially while one is committing atrocities against the other on an ongoing basis ..read more

We are calling for an immediate ceasefire to end the ongoing suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and to advance a peaceful resolution to the conflict. We also call for Hamas to release all hostages and to stop targeting civilians. Indiscriminate strikes that kill or injure civilians constitute war crimes (,Amnesty International 2023), and this holds true for both Hamas and Israel. We unequivocally condemn the Hamas attack on innocent Israeli civilians, on 7th October 2023, and mourn the loss of Israeli life. However this atrocity did not happen in a vacuum but fol ..read more

This COP28 president promised to deliver on 4 pillars: fast-tracking the transition to a low CO2 world; fixing issues around climate finance; focusing on people, lives and livelihoods; and ensuring the talks are fully inclusive. However, the last few days have made it abundantly clear that these were mere shallow promises, which have dried up after days under the Dubai sun. Figure 1: UKYCC activists [left to right: Alexa, Elouise, Lucy, Pia and George] take part in an action to call out fossil fuel interests at COP28 with Kick Big Polluters Out. Analysis by Kick Big Polluters Out - a global c ..read more

This year, the world’s largest annual conference on climate change, COP28, is in Dubai, UAE. The shadow looming over this year's conference is the pervasive influence of the fossil fuel industry. COP28 will be presided over by the CEO of the 11th biggest oil and gas producer in the world, ADNOC. Many have expressed deep concern about the continued undue influence of the fossil fuel giants who continually send scores of representatives to these negotiations, with the remit to undermine climate action. A, staggering 636 fossil fuel delegates walked the halls of COP27 last year, outnumbering all ..read more

In September, UKYCC held our PowerShift event in London for our fifteen-year anniversary. The motivational speakers and empowering workshops left me energised, and strengthened my connection both to UKYCC and the wider climate movement. Following the day, UKYCC reflected on how this would shape our work moving forward. The original PowerShift took place in the very early days of UKYCC, when we held a Youth Climate Summit in London in 2009. Young people with various backgrounds, interests and levels of engagement gathered from across the UK. The aim was to equip them with the skills to take cli ..read more

KATIE WILLIAMS The Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill is a Private Member’s Bill* that was introduced to Parliament by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas in September 2020. The CEE Bill grew from some of the demands made by Extinction Rebellion activists, and has been written by the ,,CEE Bill Alliance – a group of scientists, lawyers, academics and activists. The key aims of the bill are to ensure the UK plays a fair role in ensuring global temperature increase is limited to 1.5°C, and to actively conserve the natural world, with a focus on biodiversity, carbon sinks and soil degradation ..read more

Ever wondered how much your MP actually cares about climate change? Then have we got something just for you! Introducing ,,Talking Won’t Cut It: Your MP’s Climate Record, a new website created by the UKYCC Community team, tracking the voting records of MPs on climate issues. Going back as far as the 2008 Climate Change Act, we have tracked whether MPs voted for, against or were absent on a number of different climate-related votes, and whether the MP is a supporter of the Divest Parliament Campaign. We picked these votes as our team felt they were examples where MPs could most clearly demonst ..read more

EILIDH ROBB We recently ,wrapped up the outcomes of COP26 - the largest United Nations annual climate conference bringing together world leaders and civil society - and spoiler alert, it didn’t exactly deliver the bold actions required to combat climate change. For those who attended the event, most of us are now in a post-COP26 funk, for those who watched the headlines flash by there is likely a sense of hopelessness and confusion, and for those whose lives are already directly impacted by this crisis I expect there is a feeling of rage, bitter resentment and fear. But the agreed political ou ..read more

LUCY JORDAN After two, tumultuous years of anticipation, and the arrival of more than 40,000 people upon the streets of Glasgow, ,COP26 finally drew to an end on Saturday, following hard-fought negotiations by nations into the night. However, what did the Glasgow Climate Pact actually manage to agree upon, and was it enough to vitally mitigate emissions and support frontline communities? Spoiler alert - not really - but let’s take a look and understand more about what really went on. UKYCC join thousands of others to march for climate justice in the streets of Glasgow Coal, Trees and EV’s Pri ..read more

PRAKASH LAMA For nearly three decades, the ,United Nations has brought almost every country on the earth together for global climate summits called COPs (Conference of the Parties). Climate change has progressed from a minor concern to a worldwide priority over this time, yet there is still a very long way to go for international decarbonisation and a safer planet for us all. While the negotiations are carried out by the world leaders, we are forgetting the future leaders that are today's youth. The 26th annual summit, known as ,COP26, will be held in Scotland this year to follow up on previou ..read more