Exclusive: Madeleine Alessandri, chair of the joint intelligence committee, will take on the role of advising No 10 on climate-related national security risks
The UK government has appointed the world’s first special representative for climate security, in the strongest sign yet of fears that climate breakdown will bring chaos to the country.
Prime minister Andy Burnham will announce the move on Thursday at Cop31, the UN climate summit, with the new role designed to advise the government on national security risks from the climate crisis before they spell catastrophe.
Burnham will tell the key climate talks on Thursday morning: “We should all recognise the summer was not normal. The climate crisis is upon all of us now. We saw that with the wildfires that devastated lives and livelihoods everywhere.”
This year’s summer was the UK’s hottest on record, with back-to-back heatwaves supercharged by the climate crisis causing health services and transport to suffer, schools to close and thousands of people to lose their lives prematurely.
Burnham will add: “The message I carry here, in my first Cop as prime minister, is that the UK remains determined to reach net zero by 2050 and to work with our partners to build a clean energy future. The world has changed.
