National Emergency Briefing: A Wake-Up Call

Last week, ten of the UK’s leading experts delivered speeches at the National Emergency Briefing, a first-of-its-kind and one-off event, in a desperate effort to wake the public and policymakers in the face of climate change and nature loss. While the briefing was attended by policymakers and public figures, it did not make it in the news or the media. We urge readers to find the time to watch the briefing and send it your colleagues, family, and friends. However, in the meantime, we have consolidated the main takeaways in this insight.

The expertise of the speakers spans energy, food and national security, health, and extreme weather events. Together, the speakers explained why the UK must respond with urgent, wartime-scale action. In the public stood 1200 of the UK’s leaders including politicians, faith leaders, CEOs, and sport and cultural figures in an attempt to break the echo chamber around climate urgency.

In an age of increased climate misinformation and disinformation as well as decreased media coverage, this event could not come at a more urgent time. COP has failed us: after 30 years, we still do not have a mandate on phasing out fossil fuels and we are still putting anthropogenic emissions at a continuously increasing pace. We are consuming unsustainably, depleting our natural resources with Earth’s Overshoot Day – the day we have depleted all of Earth’s natural resources for the year – reached on July 24^th for 2025. Every year we emit more, we consume more, and we leave behind an increasingly unstable environment for future generations.

The ten experts got together to communicate the systemic issues that climate change is causing across food systems, national security, health, and the economy. Here are the main takeaways from the speeches delivered at the briefing:

1.      Professor of Climate Change Impacts, Prof Hayley Fowler, illustrated how current global warming levels have intensified extreme weather events which the UK is not prepared for. The catastrophic risks come the fact that our current infrastructure has been built for “a climate that no longer exists”. For instance, rising temperatures could create mega-floods that would bring 350 mm of rainfall over London in a couple of days. For reference, London receives about 585 to 300 mm of rainfall in a full year. The solution is large-scale adaptation of our infrastructure.

2.      Professor of Climate Change and Energy, Prof Kevin Anderson: explains that staying below 1.5°C is no longer viable with a 2°C rise possible and extremely dangerous. However, the real concern is the possibility of reaching 3 or 4°C by the end of the century which could risk systemic societal collapse. The solution is to eliminate all use of fossil fuels urgently. He reinforced that point by explaining that we cannot rely on Carbon Capture and Storage technologies as over 30 years, they have only captured less than 0.03% of all fossil fuel emissions.

3.      Energy Transition Expert, Tessa Khan argued that our dependency on fossil fuels has caused economic shocks and the current cost of living crisis. An economy that is based on renewables will be more secure in the long term. Our leaders need to make better political and financial decisions that ensure a just and equitable transitions.

4.      British Academy Global Professor and food system transformation expert, Prof Paul Behrens, explains that the UK is not prepared for the stress on food systems caused by climate change and nature loss. We need a food transformation that is based on healthy plant-rich diets which would be better for our health, the environment, and climate resilience. For example, Behrens explained that a diet with about one burger every two weeks could give back an area nearly as big as Scotland to nature recovery and floor resilience.

5.      Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative and The Agile Initiative and Professor of Biodiversity, Prof Nathalie Seddon, stated that “Nature must be recognised as critical national infrastructure” as it protects us from natural risks such as floods, fires, heat waves, and economic instability which will most likely become more dangerous. Doing so would build resilience and create jobs. Currently, only 14% of England’s rivers are in ecological health.

6.      Director of the Centre for Human Health and Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Prof Hugh Montgomery, described the risk of climate change as the “biggest threat to human health the 21^st century”. Apart from extreme weather event, the risk comes from our healthcare systems stretched thin by climate related emergencies such as rising temperatures and worsening air quality.

7.      Senior British Army Officer, Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, gave a different perspective by describing climate change as a “threat multiplier” which would exacerbate global instability, military tensions and risk cascading crises which would overwhelm government systems and challenge national governance. Therefore, fighting climate change is fundamental to national resilience.

8.      Green Economic Policy Expert, Angela Francis, spoke about the future costs of inaction far outweighing the present costs of action. Economic models must recognise systemic risks created by climate change and nature loss by rewarding businesses for climate and nature action and practices. The world needs to see a faster transition as an economic investment, one that the UK can afford and which would generate long-term returns and prosperity.

9.      Founding Director of the Global Systems Institute and Expert on Tipping Points, Prof Tim Lenton, explained the danger from crossing climate tipping points such as the Atlantic Ocean Circulation which could ultimately destroy crop growing in the UK. On the other hand, there are positive tipping points that we should aim for by accelerating progress towards zero emissions technologies and fundamental societal and behavioural changes.

10.  Last but certainly not least, expert in Carbon Footprinting, Prof Mike Berners Lee chaired the National Emergency Briefing and introduced it as “resetting the national conversation”. He explained that the audience present had the power to be the catalyst for a “societal tipping point” which is urgently needed for full-scale action.

Spoken with the same urgency we have seen during the Covid pandemic, these key speakers have illustrated how climate change is a cross-sectoral, systemic, extremely serious and urgent issue. The UK faces intensified flooding, extreme heat and wildfires, extreme cold winters (with estimated extreme -20°C in London), food loss, infrastructure failure, and widespread degradation of nature. These risks need to be handled as a national emergency which requires immediate, radical action comparable to those used during wartime.

What we need right now:

-          Emergency Action: Every single individual, organisation, business, and NGO need to respond with genuine action. We need to emit less, consume less, and live more consciously.

-          Systemic Solutions: We need to address climate change systematically as climate change is interconnected to every sector and everyone. Solutions must be based on a deep, rapid, and fair decarbonisation which stops our dependency on fossil fuels. We must focus on triggering positive tipping points which comes from fundamental behavioural changes.

-          Political mobilisation: People should not underestimate the influence that they have individually and collectively to create the “societal tipping point” needed to unlock full-scale action. Our leaders must recognise this event as a call-to-action to act bravely, listen to the science, engage the public, and put in place the right policies and procedures for a green and just transition.

Change is coming whether or not we want it: it is now up to us to decide whether that change is catastrophic global warming or a societal shift that lives more consciously with nature. One will cost millions – if not billions – of livelihoods, the other will lead to improved natural and social resilience and long-term prosperity.

CAFA urges membership organisations – from trade bodies to societies – to support members in this transition to build green skills, adopt mitigation measures, and reduce their environmental footprints. If you are a membership organisation and are unsure what that entails, CAFA has free guidance, support, and resources: join here to access them.