A national briefing

The tail-end of last year saw over 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, faith, culture, sport and the media gather at Westminster Central Hall for the National Emergency Briefing on the climate and nature crisis.

Ten of the UK’s leading experts – including leading climate scientists at top British universities (Oxford, Manchester, Exeter, Newcastle, Lancaster and UCL), many of them global leaders in their fields, and a former lieutenant-general in the British army – briefed them on the latest implications for health, food, national security and the economy. (You can find recordings of the event at www.nebriefing.org/) What, I wondered as I watched, might be an Evangelical response?

These are certainly serious people, talking of serious matters. And all extremely concerned at the way things are going. In some ways, though, there was little new in the briefing – a similar briefing was given four years ago to the then Prime Minister, leading to his “one minute to midnight” speech ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. The briefing simply reflected what has long been the global scientific consensus, and the need to act too has long been urgent. One thing though was new: the change of focus. The briefing was not on tropical coral reefs, nor polar bears, nor people living in Africa and Asia, but on us here in UK.