ANTALYA: British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced on Thursday the appointment of a special envoy for “climate security” in a world-first move aimed at better preparing the country for the growing impacts of global warming.
In a speech at the UN’s COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, the Labour leader recalled spending his first three weeks as prime minister this past summer responding to the worst wildfires Britain had ever experienced.
“I decided then it was important for me to be here to show British leadership in a world where climate issues have taken too much of a back seat,” Burnham said, adding that he was the only G7 leader attending the summit.
Britain and the rest of western Europe experienced their hottest summer on record, with a succession of heatwaves and wildfires. The extreme heat caused tens of thousands of excess deaths across the continent.
“Climate is a national security issue,” Burnham said.
“As evidence of that, I am today announcing the appointment of Dame Madeleine Alessandri as the first UK special representative for climate security,” he said.
Alessandri is the former head of the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee, which briefs ministers on security threats.
“In this role, I will work with partners across government and internationally to strengthen our understanding of climate threats, build resilience and ensure we are better prepared for the challenges ahead,” Alessandri said in a statement.
Britain already has a climate minister, Katie White, who is in Antalya for the COP31 talks, which are scheduled to conclude on November 20.
Cosima Cassel, an expert at climate think tank E3G, said countries often appointed climate envoys whose responsibilities included climate security.
“This is the first climate security envoy specifically,” she told AFP.
“This appointment elevates that issue to the level it deserves, and other governments should consider a similar model,” Cassel said.
Environmental group Greenpeace also described the appointment as a “welcome move”, saying climate change was a “threat multiplier”.
However, Greenpeace criticised Burnham’s recent decision to authorise drilling at a gas field in the North Sea.
“The choices he makes over the coming weeks and months will decide if his speech today was more than hot air,” Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, told AFP.
