Miliband briefs foreign ministers on suppressed UK climate security report

Foreign secretary warns of ‘most intense in living memory’ El Niño

Ed Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, convened a closed-door meeting of foreign ministers during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday night to present the findings of a Joint Intelligence Committee report suppressed under then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The JIC assessment found the collapse of natural systems around the world would lead to conflict, migration and food shortages.

The session marked the first such discussion among foreign ministers on climate security. Attendees included counterparts from the EU and Kenya, as well as ministers from other countries. It was convened after Miliband delivered a public speech at the UN General Assembly on Monday that touched on the links between the climate and national security.

Miliband told the gathering that the El Niño pattern supercharged by climate breakdown would test global food systems as never before. He warned: “We face an El Niño that is already set to be the most intense in living memory. This will intensify climate shocks that compound and cascade across borders, threatening food and water security, displacing communities, putting pressure on markets and scarring economies.”

The foreign secretary framed the climate and nature crises as a matter for heads of government rather than environment ministries alone. “Climate change and nature loss have never been issues for climate and environment ministers alone,” he said. “They are defining challenges for our citizens, our economies, our foreign policy and our national security.”

The presentation was made with the backing of Prime Minister Andy Burnham. It drew on a JIC assessment that found the collapse of global ecosystems, including the Amazon and Congo rainforests, driven by the climate crisis and the destruction of nature, would have impacts on national security worldwide. Miliband said this year’s heatwaves, bad harvests and food price inflation had shown governments what they were in for and must be dealt with at the highest levels.

The JIC report had been scheduled for publication last October but was suppressed on the eve of its launch by Downing Street. A redacted version was issued in January under the Freedom of Information Act, though ministers have continued to resist calls for the full document to be released publicly.

Retired general and security expert Richard Nugee told the Guardian that governments must treat the climate as they would other threats to national security, such as sabotage by hostile states. “If a bridge is washed away, it has the same impact whether it’s done by [a foreign power] or the climate,” he said. “The climate crisis will affect food security, energy security water security, and lead to migration and potentially the recruitment of farmers to [terrorist organisations such as] Isis. Countries should absolutely be treating this as a national security issue.”

Nugee said it was not surprising that the JIC report was suppressed and redacted, because it was “very rare” for security reports to be published.

Alongside the briefing, Miliband outlined several UK policy moves. He said he would appoint a new special representative for climate security and a new ministerial taskforce on “the national security and resilience risks of a changing climate and nature loss” that would include military and security experts alongside climate scientists. The foreign secretary also announced £330m for the Global Environment Facility, the main international fund for protecting nature, with the money to go towards protecting forests, oceans and other critical ecosystems in developing countries.

In closing remarks to the ministers, Miliband said: “The countries fit for the future will be those that see climate and nature as intrinsic to economic and national security. Countries that anticipate risks and invest in resilience before crises hit. Countries that seize the incredible opportunities the clean energy transition presents. Countries that don’t just see the connections but act on them.”

He added: “That is why the UK is placing climate and nature security at the heart of our national security and foreign policy decision-making.”

Miliband became foreign secretary in July, having previously served as energy secretary. Soon after taking office, he told the Guardian he would put climate at the center of UK foreign policy.