A taskforce set up by the Government to lead Bermuda’s response to the “urgent challenges” of climate change has been out of action for almost 18 months.

It is not clear if the group, which was established in 2021, according to repeated public statements by Walter Roban when he was the Minister of Home Affairs, ever met or completed any work.

But Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, confirmed yesterday that it no longer existed and that he planned to re-establish it.

The minister said: “Now that we sort of have a better understanding of where we’re headed, it is now a space of how do we plan and prepare for it.”

Civil servants told The Royal Gazette, in response to a public access to information request, that a climate change taskforce was not in existence and had not been operating since at least February 2025, when the last General Election took place and responsibility for the environment switched ministries.

The permanent secretary at public works and environment wrote in an e-mail on Wednesday that a climate change taskforce did exist within the home affairs ministry before the election.

But the director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources added later that day: “I am not aware of any climate change taskforce or any taskforce meetings prior to or since February 2025.”

Yesterday, environmentalists expressed their disappointment at the Government’s failure to make climate change a priority.

Kim Smith, the executive director of the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce, said: “For some years now, Best has been lobbying government, asking for details of the discussions and work done by the taskforce and urging that a national policy and action plan for the mitigation and adaptation to the threats from climate change be produced by the Government.

“For the same number of years, we haven’t even received an acknowledgement of those inquiries, let alone any response. I suppose that should have been a clue.”

Read more here: https://www.royalgazette.com/environment/news/article/20260807/climate-change-group-out-of-action-since-last-election/