August M
A high-level climate briefing in Westminster brought together senior figures from across the UK, aiming to counter misinformation and warn that the country faces mounting risks to its security, infrastructure and social stability. Speakers highlighted inequality, denial campaigns and weak national resilience as core challenges.
More than a thousand senior business figures, civil servants and community leaders converged on Methodist Central Hall in Westminster for what organisers described as a national-level emergency climate briefing.
According to The Guardian, the event was designed to address growing misinformation and reframe how the UK discusses the escalating climate crisis.
Shifting public debate
Opening the session, climate author Prof Mike Berners-Lee stressed the need to correct distortions around climate science.
He told attendees that the aim was to “reset the national conversation” at a time when misleading narratives were spreading widely.
Among the public figures present was actor Mark Rylance, who spoke to The Guardian about the social factors intertwined with the crisis.
He argued that inequality was pivotal to Britain’s broader vulnerabilities. “The cost of living crisis is really an inequality crisis.
They go hand in hand,” he said. “What we have is such an unequal society. And it is a contributing factor to the climate crisis.”
Rylance added that personal responsibility should extend to the wealthiest: “I’m a very wealthy person and I have to do more about this. We have got to do more about our collective addiction.”
Misinformation and influence
Rylance also raised concerns about the role of powerful private interests. According to The Guardian, he accused some billionaires of financing climate-denial content to weaken public mobilisation.
“They do it because they don’t want people to act collectively, they want people to feel powerless,” he said, urging wealth holders to “do better things with their money.”
The security dimension
It was later in the briefing that former military leader Richard Nugee offered his assessment of the strategic risks.
He warned that the UK’s political focus on Russia was obscuring a deeper, more pervasive threat.
“Climate change is going to be a bigger problem than Russia,” he said. “It’s an insidious threat… going to do more damage than the threats they’re focused on now.”
According to The Guardian, Nugee argued that the UK’s infrastructure remains poorly prepared for more severe weather, leaving the country exposed not only to storms and heatwaves but to hostile actors who might exploit weak points.
He said the lack of resilience undermined national strength: “We are not providing a sufficient deterrent, because we are not resilient enough [to the impacts of the climate crisis].”
Wider warnings
The Guardian reported that scientists speaking throughout the event highlighted mounting risks to the UK’s economy, food systems, public health, and national security.
Their message, according to organisers, was that the country is running out of time to adapt and must prepare for far more volatile conditions ahead.
Sources: The Guardian.
