British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband argued yesterday that the global climate crisis is a security issue that must be addressed by generals and prime ministers, and not only by environmental activists.
At the formal opening of Climate Week in New York, which takes place simultaneously with the UN General Assembly, the minister also said that the fossil fuel crisis, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US-led war in Iran, demonstrates “the imperative of energy independence through clean energy”.
‘The climate crisis should, in my opinion, be a matter for Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers, as well as for Energy and Climate Ministers, for the security community, and not only for activists, for generals and not only for environmentalists,’ he said.
The official also deemed the current situation unacceptable, citing a summer marked by record heat and wildfires in the northern hemisphere, deadly floods in Nepal caused by the melting of a glacier, and the climate phenomenon “El Niño” of record magnitude.
The climate and nature must be integrated into a country’s national security systems and threat assessments, he stated, adding that “countries must share information, because a crisis that begins in one country can quickly spread through supply chains, financial markets and migratory flows”.
Ed Miliband spoke after the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, opened the discussions, urging action and citing his country’s own economy, heavily dependent on fossil fuels, but now undergoing a rapid transition to renewable energy.
‘We cannot escape the magnitude of our responsibility nor the cost of inaction,’ he said.
Climate change has been a core issue for the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, whose term ends later this year and who has convened a world leaders’ summit ahead of COP31, the climate conference to be held in Turkey in November.
New York Climate Week, which takes place every year around the UN General Assembly, aims to accelerate climate action and decarbonize the planet and is organized by the non-governmental organization “Climate Group”.
It ends on the 27th and has as its central theme the increased electrification and the abandonment of fossil fuels, under the slogan “Energy. Impact. Action”.
The “Climate Group” says that the week is the world’s largest climate event and that it brings together each year more than 100,000 people at more than 1,000 events in New York.
