Leading security, military and academic experts have joined forces with the UK Government on preparedness for the security impacts of climate change and nature loss.
Climate Minister Katie White has announced an expert taskforce that will advise the UK Government on how to better anticipate and respond to the growing risks climate change poses to national security.
The UK’s 2025 National Security Strategy makes clear that climate and nature loss are core drivers of global instability, economic disruption and security risk.
The UK Health Security Agency estimated over 1,500 heat related deaths last summer and analysis has shown in 2025 hot and dry conditions led to £800 million in crop losses for British farming.
Co-chaired by Climate Minister Katie White and Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle, the taskforce will meet to pinpoint gaps in the UK’s preparedness and identify the most serious climate and nature threats to national security.
It will also review existing resilience work across government and set out clear recommendations to strengthen readiness. Earlier this month, the UK Government set out the target for the seventh Carbon Budget — cutting emissions by 87% between 2038 and 2042.
These 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 will take a “joined-up look at climate security”, including:
- looking at how climate impacts overseas can translate into domestic pressures, including more people living in climate-vulnerable conditions and the consequences for UK
- understanding 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
- exploring rising geopolitical tensions in places like the Arctic, where melting ice is creating security challenges
The initial group of Taskforce members include:
- Tim Benton, Professor Emeritus, University of Leeds; formerly Research Director & Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House
- Nick Bridge, Associate Fellow, Environment and Society Centre, Chatham House
- Duncan Depledge, Senior Lecturer in Geopolitics and Security, Loughborough University
- Bassam Fattouh, Director, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
- Olivia Lazard, Planetary Fellow, Berggruen Institute
- General Richard Nugee, Non-Executive Director for Climate Change and Sustainability, MOD
- Nathalie Pettorelli, Professor, Institute of Zoology, ZSL
- Janani Vivekananda, Director of Climate Diplomacy and Security Programme, Adelphi Global
Further members of the taskforce will be announced in due course.
Minister for Climate, Katie White, said:
“Climate change is no longer a distant concern. It is a security challenge that is reshaping the world in which we all live.
“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 every day 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.”
Minister for Security, Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP, said:
“The climate crisis is a growing threat to our national security, from disrupting supply chains, which pushes up prices in the shops, to driving conflict and instability around the world.
“This new taskforce will bring together leading experts to make sure Britain is better prepared for these risks – strengthening our resilience at home and ensuring we can respond to an increasingly uncertain world.”
Janani Vivekananda, Director of Climate Diplomacy and Security Programme, Adelphi Global, said:
“Security in the 2020s means climate security. I’m honoured to join this Taskforce to 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.”
General Richard Nugee, Former Non-Executive Director for Climate Change and Sustainability, MOD, said:
“I am delighted to be joining a TaskForce that puts climate change and biodiversity loss at the heart of National Security for this country. Both have significant implications for the Security and well being of the state and must be addressed for our people.”
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