UK Prime Minister Burnham at COP31: new climate security envoy and a £5 billion private finance drive

Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first COP as UK leader to announce a new climate security envoy and UK backing for a programme meant to raise £5 billion in private clean-energy finance, in a speech at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on 12 November 2026, according to the transcript published by 10 Downing Street.

Burnham said he had decided to attend after spending his first three weeks as Prime Minister responding to what he called the worst wildfires Britain has ever experienced. He argued that “two wars across two continents have sent fuel prices and gas bills soaring for families and businesses across the world”, and that the common thread was dependence on fossil fuels.

Two announcements

The Prime Minister said he was appointing Dame Madeline Alessandri as the first UK special representative for climate security, describing climate as “a national security issue”. He also announced UK support for the Amplify programme, which he said aims to secure £5 billion of new private finance for clean energy projects around the world, building on the City of London’s record of turning modest public funding into larger private investment.

Burnham added that the United Kingdom takes up the presidency of the G20 next year and will put climate resilience back on the agenda, with debt, development and insurance as key issues. He linked this to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting held last week, which he said showed him the “climate premium” that developing nations pay.

Electrification and energy security

Burnham backed the summit’s focus on electrification, giving three reasons: energy security, jobs and lower bills. On security, he said that depending on energy a country does not control leaves it exposed to prices it cannot control. On jobs, he pointed to the UK green light given on 11 November to two major offshore wind projects, a government-funded electric arc furnace in South Wales that he said will secure 5,000 steel jobs, and Rolls-Royce’s plans to take small modular reactor technology around the world.

On bills, he said a new electric car in the UK now costs less than a petrol equivalent and that, on the right tariff, a heat pump can be cheaper to run than a gas boiler. He acknowledged that these technologies are not yet available to people on all incomes, and called on industry to help households across the income range make the transition.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to its 2050 net zero target. He said “the consensus we once enjoyed on science and climate has gone” and that “the reality is now the world will reach 1.5 degrees”, which in his view makes climate leadership more urgent. He also pledged continued UK support for protecting tropical forests and oceans.

Background

COP31 is being hosted in Antalya, Turkey. Geopolitiki has also reported on the summit’s other diplomatic developments: Erdoğan at COP31: Gaza suffered “genocide and ecocide” – Israel’s Foreign Ministry replies with a “campaign of lies”, and earlier, WMO: carbon dioxide hits a record 426.8 ppm in 2025, with COP31 in Antalya less than two weeks away.

Source: PM speech at COP31 climate summit, 10 Downing Street, 12 November 2026.