Prime Minister Andy Burnham declared that the consensus on both science and climate change has vanished while addressing world leaders and delegates at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey, according to the BBC.
Speaking on Thursday, Burnham said that the UK was prepared to launch a new era of British leadership on the issue. He opened his address by discussing the summer heat experienced in the UK, saying it was not normal.
According to the Met Office, it was the country’s hottest summer on record and was made 130 times more likely due to climate change. The extreme weather led to hundreds of school closures, an 11% drop in cereal harvests, and ambulance services facing call volumes exceeding levels seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
To address threats to public health and homes, Burnham announced the creation of the world’s and the UK’s first climate security envoy, Dame Madeleine Alessandri.
Alessandri, who is the former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, stated in reporting covered by Bangla Mirror News that climate change and nature loss are increasingly shaping the operating security environment for the UK, placing pressure on resources, economies, and communities globally.
Burnham said that the UK remains committed to achieving its net zero target by 2050 while lowering bills. As reported by About Manchester, Burnham said that as the UK assumes the presidency of the G20 next year, it will place climate resilience back on the agenda alongside debt, development, and insurance.
“The Prime Minister was right to identify climate change as a threat to security around the world, and the importance of investments in clean electricity generation as the best way of protecting households and businesses from the high prices and volatile markets for fossil fuels,” Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, who calculated two decades ago that unchecked climate change could cost the global economy up to 20% of GDP, said. He said:
Environmental campaigners and critics argued that the Prime Minister’s warm words needed to be supported by stronger actions. Recent months have seen the UK government approve the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, reduce support for heat pumps, and double down on support for the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Beth John, climate adviser at Oxfam, said:
“The Prime Minister simply cannot call for clean power across the world while saying yes to more fossil fuels in the UK,” Beth John, climate adviser at Oxfam, said.