UK launches taskforce to strengthen climate security
The ‘first of its kind’ taskforce will bring together experts to advise government on how to better anticipate and respond to the growing risks climate change poses to national security
The UK has established a taskforce of security, military and academic experts to advise government on boosting the country’s preparedness for the national security impacts of climate change.
The taskforce – which was announced by climate minister Katie White on 26 June – will meet to identify the most serious risks of climate change and nature loss to UK security, and will review existing resilience work across government to pinpoint gaps and set out clear recommendations to strengthen readiness.
The decision to create the taskforce follows the UK’s 2025 National Security Strategy, which noted that climate change and nature loss are core drivers of global instability, economic disruption and security risk.
The government highlighted that there were more than 1,500 heat-related deaths last summer and that hot and dry conditions in 2025 led to £800m [US$1bn] in crop losses in British farming.
It added that “risks are increasingly crossing borders and sectors, with knock-on effects for migration, access to food and water, energy systems, supply chains and financial stability”.
The taskforce’s remit to “take a joined-up look at climate security” will include examining how climate impacts overseas translate into domestic pressures, “including more people living in climate-vulnerable conditions and the consequences for UK”.
It will also work to understand the risks to the UK and global economy, “including what happens when assets, infrastructure or whole regions become too risky to insure or invest in”, and explore rising geopolitical tensions in places like the Arctic, where melting ice is creating security challenges.
“Climate change is no longer a distant concern. It is a security challenge that is reshaping the world in which we all live,” said White, who will co-chair the taskforce with minister for security Dame Angela Eagle. “Recent events in the Middle East make clear just how exposed the systems which we all depend on are to shocks, which can quickly cascade and impact the everyday lives of families and businesses.
“We’re convening this taskforce, the first of its kind, to make sure that we are prepared as possible for the security challenges that climate change creates.”
Eight members of the taskforce have so far been announced, including General Richard Nugee, non-executive director for climate change and sustainability at the Ministry of Defence; Bassam Fattouh, director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies; and Duncan Depledge, senior lecturer in geopolitics and security at Loughborough University. The government said further members would be announced in due course.
Janani Vivekananda, director of the climate diplomacy and security programme at the non-profit Adelphi Global, who is also a member of the taskforce, said it would “help ensure the UK acts early and decisively – with integrated, evidence‑based and accountable responses that prevent climate and nature risks from becoming crises, protect people, and strengthen the conditions for peace”.
Read more: UK government to use AI to improve global preparation for climate shocks
UK ‘not moving fast enough’ to reduce emissions, Climate Change Committee says
In other UK climate news, the Climate Change Committee – a statutory body that provides independent advice on emissions targets to the government – published its ‘Progress in reducing emissions’ report on 24 June.
The report to Parliament states that the UK “remains among a leading group of countries demonstrating sustained emissions reduction” but that it is “not moving fast enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to protect households and businesses from volatile fossil fuel prices”.
It said: “The war in Iran has led to the second global fossil fuel price shock in just four years. In this uncertain geopolitical context, many countries are responding with plans to provide secure, homegrown energy by rapidly reducing dependency on fossil fuels.
“To do this in the UK, the government needs a more ambitious plan to electrify the UK. This requires continued progress towards low-carbon electricity and an accelerated roll-out of electric vehicles, heat pumps, and industrial electrification.”
In March, the Climate Change Committee published a report which found that achieving net zero is a more cost-effective path for the UK economy than continued reliance on fossil fuels and “will bring a net benefit to society”.
The analysis said that reaching net zero would cost about £4bn (US$5.3bn) a year or close to £100bn (US$133bn) by 2050, which is roughly equivalent to the energy-related costs of the fossil fuel shocks that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Referring to the Iran war, which had started shortly before the report was published, Nigel Topping, chair of the Climate Change Committee, said: “In light of current world events it’s more important than ever for the UK to move away from being reliant on volatile foreign fossil fuels, to clean, domestic, less wasteful energy.”
Last month, the UK government outlined its proposal for the Seventh Carbon Budget, setting a target to cut emissions by 87% of 1990 levels between 2038 and 2042.
In its latest report, the Climate Change Committee, which provides advice to government on its carbon budgets, said this was both “feasible and ambitious”.
Read more: Cost of net zero less than a single fossil fuel price shock, say UK government’s climate advisers
About Mia Hunt
Mia has been editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and specialises in writing for civil and public servants worldwide, including covering sustainability policy and related issues. She has led the Global Government Women’s Network since it launched in 2023. Previously, she covered commercial property having been market reports and supplements editor at Property Week and deputy editor at Retail Destination. She graduated from Kingston University London with a first-class honours degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
