Is Ed Miliband leading the government into environmental action?

JVL Introduction

In this blog, Dan Smith suggests that the UK Government may finally be waking up to the urgency of responding to the catastrophic impacts of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. He sees as “a significant moment” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s warning to a meeting of the UN General Assembly  about risks to global security. Miliband was talking about a Joint Intelligence Assessment report which was due to published in October 2025, then initially suppressed but finally released, in redacted form, in January 2026. It paints a dire picture of the consequences of failing to act.

In November 2025 Lt General Richard Nugee delivered a similar assessment in Westminster Hall as part of the National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature. He claimed that threats from a degrading climate, undermining food security, could “make the country ungovernable” within a few years. The People’s Emergency Briefing currently being rolled out across the country is trying to do the government’s job in informing UK citizens of looming dangers and the necessity of action. With the government wavering over licensing new oil and gas fields in the North Sea, it remains to be seen whether Ed Miliband’s address indicates new government leadership on environmental action.

(Intro by Tony Booth, JVL Environment Officer)

This article was originally published by Blog on Thu 24 Sep 2026. Read the original here.