Miliband: Fossil-Fuel Crises Behind Half of UK Recessions
(MENAFN) Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, warned Wednesday that reliance on fossil fuels is a direct threat to national security. He pointed to the economic damage from geopolitical conflicts and called for a faster shift to clean energy at the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye.
Addressing the “Clean Energy Transition & Electrification Summit,” Miliband said fossil-fuel crises have triggered half of Britain’s recessions since the 1970s.
Even major producers are exposed, he said in the Mediterranean city of Antalya. “Even the world’s largest fossil-fuel producer, the United States, is not immune. Vice President (JD) Vance has said the Iran war has had real effects on voters,” he said.
Security is impossible for any country dependent on fossil fuels, Miliband argued, because it remains at the mercy of a volatile market it cannot control, driven by geopolitical conflict. He said the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war have shown the world exactly that.
Unlike in the past, he added, clean-energy electrification now offers a real alternative to fossil fuels.
Miliband credited the summit’s host for putting that idea at the heart of the talks. “I applaud the Turkish Presidency for their vision in putting this idea at the center of COP31. And it’s right to say it’s only possible because of the extraordinary transformation we’ve seen over the last two decades in the price of clean energy,” noted Miliband.
He then framed climate breakdown as a security matter for governments. “And I just want to say one very simple thing: as a foreign minister, this (climate breakdown) is a national security issue,” he added.
All foreign ministers and prime ministers should treat it the same way, Miliband said, “because whether it’s food security, infrastructure security, population displacement -- these have profound national security implications.”
He closed with a call to action. “We must make the era of clean-energy electrification come of age,” he added.
Addressing the “Clean Energy Transition & Electrification Summit,” Miliband said fossil-fuel crises have triggered half of Britain’s recessions since the 1970s.
Even major producers are exposed, he said in the Mediterranean city of Antalya. “Even the world’s largest fossil-fuel producer, the United States, is not immune. Vice President (JD) Vance has said the Iran war has had real effects on voters,” he said.
Security is impossible for any country dependent on fossil fuels, Miliband argued, because it remains at the mercy of a volatile market it cannot control, driven by geopolitical conflict. He said the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war have shown the world exactly that.
Unlike in the past, he added, clean-energy electrification now offers a real alternative to fossil fuels.
Miliband credited the summit’s host for putting that idea at the heart of the talks. “I applaud the Turkish Presidency for their vision in putting this idea at the center of COP31. And it’s right to say it’s only possible because of the extraordinary transformation we’ve seen over the last two decades in the price of clean energy,” noted Miliband.
He then framed climate breakdown as a security matter for governments. “And I just want to say one very simple thing: as a foreign minister, this (climate breakdown) is a national security issue,” he added.
All foreign ministers and prime ministers should treat it the same way, Miliband said, “because whether it’s food security, infrastructure security, population displacement -- these have profound national security implications.”
He closed with a call to action. “We must make the era of clean-energy electrification come of age,” he added.
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