After a summer of record-breaking heatwaves , wildfires and school closures, Britain is now facing worsening drought.

Yet as the climate crisis intensifies, the international response is under mounting pressure. Countries have been accused of failing to deliver on promises made at previous UN summits, while several major powers are increasingly turning their backs on the process.

However, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has told The Independent that Britain’s participation at Cop31 in Antalya, Turkey, this week is “in the national interest” – both to protect the country from increasingly extreme weather and to seize opportunities in the green economy.

“This summer, we all felt it. Record heatwaves. Homes lost to wildfires. Schools forced to close in the heat,” she said. “Climate change is no longer a warning about the future, or something happening somewhere else. It is here, in Britain, now.”

Her comments come amid growing questions over whether Cop is delivering on its promises.…