Engineers across the globe, from China to East Africa and the US, are turning to a new, nature-based solutions to fight floods, which are becoming more likely in many places because of climate change. They’re taking a pickaxe to asphalt and concrete and instead are restoring wetlands, parks and riverbanks, turning our metropolises into so-called ‘sponge cities’. Plants, trees and lakes act just like a sponge, mopping up rainwater instead of letting it pool and eventually flood our homes. Profess...
Aug 26, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Presenter Graihagh Jackson and her regular panel take Climate Questions from listeners. BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, Prof Tamsin Edwards of King's College London, and Dr Akshat Rathi, senior climate reporter for Bloomberg News, discuss ideas for geo-engineering the atmosphere, the links between climate change and shipping, and which animals do the best job of helping us store carbon. Plus, Graihagh visits a Climate Question listener to investigate his idea of using yoghurt to keep our home...
Aug 19, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Climate change has been tightening its grip on the people of Afghanistan, with flood after flood and drought after drought. It’s considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, not just because it’s warming twice as fast as the global average, but because its people’s ability to fight back has been severely hampered by decades of conflict and war. To add insult to injury, Afghanistan has contributed very little to the industrial emissions that fuel the global climate crisis. Since ...
Aug 12, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special programme, the Climate Question team join forces with our World Service colleagues from People Fixing The World to share some of our favourite ways of fighting the impacts of climate change. Jordan Dunbar and Myra Anubi discuss solutions big and small - from tidal power in Northern Ireland to floating solar panels in Albania. Plus, we hear about pioneering community initiatives to protect forests in Borneo and Colombia Production team: Osman Iqbal, Zoe Gelber, Craig Langran, Tom ...
Aug 05, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The acclaimed US sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson is also a star in the world of climate activism because his work often features climate change - on Earth and beyond. Robinson has been a guest speaker at the COP climate summit, and novels such as The Ministry For The Future and The Mars Trilogy are admired by everyone from Barack Obama to former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres. Robinson's books are not just imaginative but scientifically accurate, and some of their ideas have even inspir...
Jul 29, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Some of the world's biggest carbon emitters - including the EU, India and Indonesia - have just had elections. Will the results change their climate policies? Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar are joined by Anna Holligan, BBC correspondent in the Netherlands; Carl Nasman, BBC climate journalist based in Washington; and BBC climate reporter Esme Stallard. Producers: Ben Cooper and Graihagh Jackson Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Editor: Simon Watts Sound mix: Tom Brignell
Jul 22, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast With more and more people moving to cities, informal settlements are expected to grow. When floods hit these unplanned places, it can be disastrous, as we often don’t know much about them. Crucial questions often remain difficult to answer, like how many people live there, what are the buildings made of, and could they withstand a flood? In the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg, the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko visits a project using drones and artificial intelligence to shed some light on the situati...
Jul 16, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast This little-known pollutant is making us sick and driving the climate crisis. It commonly comes from burning coal, diesel or wood and has a habit of getting stuck in people’s lungs as well as causing glaciers to melt. In Nepal, home to some of the world’s most beautiful glaciers, we meet journalist Tulsi Rauniyar, who tells us all about the impact black carbon is having on women and children. She meets Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa, a glacier expert who maps the ice losses in the Himalayas. Zerin Osho ...
Jul 09, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Paris Olympics are less than a month away. The last games in Tokyo were one of the hottest on record, with more than a hundred athletes suffering heat-related illnesses. And France, the host of this year’s Olympics, is no stranger to heatwaves – the country has seen 23 since 2010. So how are top athletes training their bodies to not only perform at their best in high temperatures, but also to protect their health? Presenter Qasa Alom heads inside a sweltering, state of the art heat chamber a...
Jul 03, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a new play depicts the landmark global climate change agreement, the Kyoto protocol, Jordan Dunbar has a front row seat. He heads to the historic English town of Stratford-Upon-Avon to watch the opening night of the play, Kyoto, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. He hears why the writers, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson decided to dramatize the seemingly slow and tedious action of a global climate change conference. And the duo explain their goal to highlight Kyoto as a ‘parable of agreement’ in ...
Jun 23, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Someone dies every other day protecting the environment, according to data gathered by the campaign group, Global Witness. Even higher numbers of people are attacked or threatened. To understand why this is happening, the BBC’s East and Central Europe Correspondent, Nick Thorpe travels to the foothills of the Carpathians in Romania, to show us how important the forests there are in fighting climate change, why they’re subject to high levels of illegal logging and consequently, clashes with envir...
Jun 17, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s been a lot happening in our warming world and so The Climate Question is taking a break from its usual analysis to catch you up with the latest news. From worsening turbulence and plummeting planes to new rocket launches with satellites on board that hope to unlock one of the Earth’s big mysteries: clouds... and how they might impact, and be impacted, by global heating. Plus, a look at the latest trends in clean, green energy technology. Are we investing enough in renewables to put the b...
Jun 09, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Billions of dollars have been pumped into the promise of a climate-friendly way of producing meat, but is growing a steak in a lab any better for the planet than rearing a cow on a farm? Supporters of the idea say it will dramatically reduce the impact of livestock, which is responsible for about 15% of the world’s planet-warming gases, as well as returning huge amounts of land to nature. But studies suggest cultivating meat in a lab might actually be worse for the planet, at least in the long-r...
Jun 03, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Graihagh Jackson is joined by her regular panel to answer climate-related questions from listeners. BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt, Prof Tamsin Edwards of King's College London, and Dr Akshat Rathi, senior climate reporter for Bloomberg News, discuss telling children about climate change, solar panels, nuclear fusion and more. Plus, Graihagh finds out if playing music really helps plants to grow. If you have got a climate question, email us at theclimatequestion@bbc.com Production team: Osman...
May 27, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast China is scouring the globe for the raw materials of the future. How will we be affected? Graihagh Jackson investigates.
May 20, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, more than half the world’s population live in cities – and as our numbers swell, so will our cities, especially those around the Pacific Rim, where it’s predicted our largest megacities of 10 million plus will be situated. And herein lies an opportunity: 60% of the buildings needed for 2050 are not yet built. Could we shape our cities into places that are good for the climate and also good for our mental health? Can we design buildings and infrastructure that make green decisions easier a...
May 13, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Experts say we need to be 40 per cent more energy efficient to meet our climate goals. Is that doable? And might it save us money too? It's a solution that's been called the main route to net zero: energy efficiency - or using less energy to get the same or better results. But there’s an issue – it's got an image problem as many people think it’s boring. And it is hard to get excited about the idea of better lightbulbs! But energy efficiency could save us money on our bills too - especially in a...
May 06, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Graihagh Jackson explores the new field of climate attribution science with leading climatologist Dr Friederike Otto. Dr Otto's team of experts can now rapidly assess to what extent extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts or floods have - or have not - been caused by man-made climate change. Graihagh finds out how this information is becoming crucial for disaster planning and response. She is also joined by BBC World Service disinformation reporter Jacqui Wakefield to...
Apr 29, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this extra episode, Graihagh Jackson hears from our friends on BBC podcast The Global Story about a case that could change the history of climate activism. For nearly a decade, a group of elderly women argued that Switzerland’s weak climate policies violated their human rights. Their victory – the first of its kind in the European Court of Human Rights – sets a precedent 46 countries must now follow. The BBC's climate reporter, Georgina Rannard, has been covering the case for years. She share...
Apr 26, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Corals protect humans and sustain 25% of all marine life. But reefs are under threat from climate change, and mass bleaching events mean that some scientists estimate they could disappear by 2100. In this episode, Graihagh Jackson is joined by BBC CrowdScience presenter, Caroline Steel. We go to Puerto Rico to see how self-duplicating, carnivorous coral could be the solution. We also speak to the scientist who helped discover what was causing coral bleaching in the first place - back when climat...
Apr 22, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ammonia has revolutionised the way we produce our food, helping us to grow much, much more... But it’s also helping to grow global greenhouse gas emissions too. Synthetic fertilisers are actually responsible for around 5% of the planet-warming gases going into the air - that’s more than deforestation. In this episode, Graihagh Jackson examines this challenge that modern agriculture poses to the climate, and finds out whether it’s possible to cut emissions from fertiliser use without cutting food...
Apr 16, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Delhi’s roads are being taken over by electric mopeds, scooters and rickshaws. More than fifty per cent of two- and three-wheelers are already electric, and the market is expected to continue growing. It’s good news for the fight against climate change. Why has the transition to green vehicles been so swift in India and what can the rest of the world learn from it? Graihagh Jackson speaks to reporter Sushmita Pathak, who’s been chatting to those who’ve made the switch to electric as well as thos...
Apr 07, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Every year, the great migration sees hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, gazelles, zebras and antelopes migrate from the Serengeti plains in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, in search of water and juicy grass. But rising temperatures and unpredictable weather are changing this epic animal journey dramatically. It’s the same for great white sharks, which are being spotted in areas where they’d never normally live. Tanzanian safari guide Neema Amos takes us into the Serengeti to explain why ...
Mar 31, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast The BBC’s Global Health Correspondent Tulip Mazumdar investigates how extreme heat fuelled by climate change is affecting pregnant women in India. New research shared with the BBC suggests that pregnant informal workers in Tamil Nadu who were exposed to high temperatures saw double the risk of stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight and miscarriage. Discussing her reporting from India with The Climate Question host and fellow mum Graihagh Jackson, Tulip hears the heart-breaking stories of ...
Mar 21, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast You asked, we answered. This week our expert panel dive into your questions. Can climate change cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions? How bad are avocados for the environment? Is climate change reversible? Send your questions to: theclimatequestion@bbc.com Plus, a look at biofuels and vertical farming, China’s electric vehicle boom, and the apparent contradiction between more renewable energy and the continuing rise in planet-warming gases Join Graihagh Jackson and our expert panel: Dr Aksha...
Mar 17, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast As governments and industry find ways of reducing emissions to keep climate change under control, some people are taking responsibility for their own carbon footprints. In this episode, Graihagh Jackson explores some different ways of living a green life – from setting up an eco-friendly commune in Denmark, to making small adjustments to our lifestyles in cities such as London. Graihagh also talks to one of the UN's top experts on the social aspects of fighting climate change: what's the right b...
Mar 10, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast As climate change makes the world hotter, some cities have appointed "Chief Heat Officers" to try to improve their response to record-breaking temperatures. Graihagh Jackson speaks to two women who have done the job in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Monterrey, Mexico. What does their role involve? What solutions are out there? And do they get enough funding? Plus, Umaru Fofana reports from Freetown on the extreme heat gripping the city. Umaru talks to locals forced to sleep outside because of the t...
Mar 03, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but the idea of assembling giant solar farms in space and then beaming the renewable energy back down to Earth is gaining real life traction. Some advocates have claimed it could supply all the world’s energy needs by 2050. But how would these solar farms be assembled, how much fuel and money would it take to blast them into space in the first place, and how would we safely beam their energy back to Earth? In 2023, Sophie Eastaugh and Luke Jones sp...
Feb 28, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Graihagh chats to the BBC World Service's Global Story podcast about a plan for a super-category for storms. Is climate change making them so powerful that we need a new grade?
Feb 23, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast At the big COP climate summit last December, more than 20 countries pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 to help cut carbon emissions. The signatories included familiar nuclear names such as the US, France and Japan...but also newcomers, like Ghana. Although Ghana doesn’t currently have any nuclear power plants, president Nana Akufo-Addo says he wants to build one or two by 2030. So why is this African nation turning to nuclear? How will it pay for the multi-billion-dollar power pla...
Feb 18, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
