Hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks

The UK faces growing risks from climate and nature breakdown - from extreme weather to economic disruption and national security threats. Yet the public has never been given a clear national briefing on the scale of these risks. Government should hold an emergency briefing from leading experts.

These risks could have serious consequences across UK society, with threats to health and food supply - which could become irreversible if without urgent action. Many people are unclear how these risks may affect them, and information in the public domain is often misleading.

A credible national briefing from independent experts would give people clear, trusted guidance on what these risks mean in practice, and what we can do - both together and individually - to prepare and respond.

The UK government recognises the growing risks from climate and nature breakdown. Nature and a stable climate underpin our health, economy, national security and critical services.

The National Emergency Briefing campaign is right to highlight climate change as a major threat for the UK and the world as set out in our ‘National security assessment on global ecosystems’ in January 2026.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nature-security-assessment-on-global-biodiversity-loss-ecosystem-collapse-and-national-security

The government welcomes their work and we are committed to speaking clearly about the scale of the crisis.

In July 2025, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP, alongside the then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed MP, gave the first-ever statement on the State of Climate and Nature.

The statement provided an honest appraisal of the state of climate and nature in the UK and the action being taken to benefit people now, as well as future generations, demonstrating how the choices we make as a country influence the course of global action. To promote the statement, the Energy Secretary spoke to national broadcasters and newspapers about the threat of climate change to our British way of life, securing widespread coverage across print, online and broadcast.

We intend to undertake a second statement this summer to demonstrate the scale of the challenge and emphasise the steps that the government and UK citizens are taking to prepare and respond to the climate and nature crisis.