The UK government has no plans to publish a report warning that the collapse of natural ecosystems poses a risk to national security, according to reporting by The Guardian. The document has been kept out of public view even as ministers face growing pressure over the country's climate commitments.
The report's author is a senior official who was central to its preparation and has since been given a new advisory role within government. Its central warning is that failing ecosystems could threaten the country's security, a framing that places nature loss alongside more traditional concerns about the state's protection.
The question of publication arrives as the government's direction on climate is being tested on the international stage. Andy Burnham now leads the UK government and attended the COP31 climate summit, where he pledged to reach net zero by 2050 in partnership with other countries. The summit is hosted jointly by Turkey and Australia.
The timing also highlights a tension between that pledge and domestic energy decisions. The government has approved the Jackdaw gas field, which is expected to release up to 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and is weighing approval for the Rosebank oilfield while considering a weaker mandate for electric vehicles.
The wider picture is similarly mixed. Turkey has announced two new oilfields and plans to double its gas output, while Australia has approved an extension to a coal mine that climate campaigners have described as a climate bomb. The United States is again boycotting the annual climate summit. Meanwhile, the Global Carbon Budget projects that fossil fuel emissions will dip slightly in 2026, a decline linked to an oil price spike caused by the war involving Iran rather than to deliberate climate policy.
Credit. Based on reporting by Fiona Harvey for The Guardian. Is this your work? Write to us.
52
