The Climate Question

Latest Episodes:

Have we planted too much faith in trees? Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

It seems we all love trees. Politicians, celebrities and big businesses love trees too. They’re seen as a natural climate fix because they eat carbon dioxide, one of the main gases that cause global warming.

The number of trees pledged in the coming years runs into the billions. Pakistan wants to plant more than three billion trees in the next couple of years. Ethiopia claims to have planted 350 million in one day! Neal Razzell and Graihagh Jackson try to see the wood from the trees amongst all these claims, and discover that a ‘forest’ planting campaign doesn't always end up creating the natural woodland we imagine it to be.

And to add to the urgency of the climate crisis, there's a new problem - a warming world may mean plants can’t suck up our carbon dioxide as effectively. Have we planted too much faith in trees? Experts: Dr Kate Hardwick, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew Prof Pedro Brancalion, professor of forest sciences at the University of São Paulo Dr Ben Ben Poulter, NASA Goddard Space Centre Rafael Bitante, SoS Mata Atlantica Project

Producer: Jordan Dunbar (London), Jessica Cruz (Sao Paulo) Researcher: Soila Apparicio Editor: Penny Murphy

Does big money really believe green is good? Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

When a man sitting on nearly $9 trillion dollars of funds speaks, CEOs, investors and politicians listen.

In late January, Larry Fink, boss of the world’s largest hedge fund, BlackRock, announced in his annual letter that "climate risk is investment risk. But we also believe the climate transition presents a historic investment opportunity.”

He's not alone in championing big money's green awakening, but the titans of finance remain invested in the fossil fuel industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. So does the rhetoric marry with reality? Guests: Caroline Le Meaux - Head of ESG Research, Engagement, and Voting policy at Amundi Jeanne Martin - Senior Manager at Share Action Vishala Sri-Pathma - BBC business reporter

Can the internet ever be green? Feb 08, 2021

Show notes

The big tech firms of the world have reported record profits during lockdown. These firms are some of the industrial titans of the digital age.

Their ability to manipulate vast quantities of data is revolutionising, well, everything. From streaming games and movies, to automating mining operations, controlling medical devices and even simple emails, the internet has brought incredible advances right across the globe.

But we now know that previous industrial revolutions placed a huge burden on the planet. Our climate question this week is: Will this one be any different?

Facebook has pledged to use only renewable energy by the end of 2020, not 2030, as we stated in the programme.

Guests: Dr Rabih Bashroush - IT infrastructure expert, The Uptime Institute Dr Stephanie Hare - Author and tech researcher Mats Lewan - Tech reporter, Stockholm

Presented by Graihagh Jackson and Neal Razzell Produced by Jordan Dunbar Researched by Soila Apparicio Edited by Emma Rippon

Will Africa really leapfrog to renewables? Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

Africa has an electricity crisis. Hundreds of millions of people lack cheap, steady supply, crippling lives in countless ways. Every other continent has electrified off the back of fossil fuels but Africa, on the face of it, has the opportunity to do it differently. Researchers found that some 2,500 power plants are planned across the continent. But the majority are expected to run on fossil fuels threatening to lock Africa into dirty energy for decades. In this edition of The Climate Question, we ask: What would it take to bring clean power to every African? For answers, we have one of Africa’s leading experts on power. Damilola Ogunbiyi ran the Lagos power authority before taking over efforts to electrify Nigeria’s rural communities. Today, she’s the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. We are also joined by Tony Tiyou, the Cameroonian CEO of the firm Renewables in Africa. And we hear from a community in Nigeria where people just want the lights on, now.

How can we live with the SUV? Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

Lockdown saw historic drops in global emissions in every sector, except one: sports utility vehicles, or SUVs. They are among the best-selling cars in markets around the world, from India to China, South Africa and Germany. But these vehicles pollute much more than a normal sized car, and require more fuel to move and energy to make. Seen as a status symbol and wrongly thought of as safer than other cars, what can we do to wean ourselves off this polluting vehicle?

Featuring World Service India reporter Arunoday Mukhardji; New York Times Shanghai editor Keith Bradsher, author of High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV; Jillian Anable, Professor of Transport and Energy at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds; and Jim Holder, editorial director, Haymarket Automotive.

Does Africa have a voice on climate? Jan 18, 2021

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Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate is on a mission to make sure Africa is listened to on climate justice.

In early 2019 she started taking to the streets of Kampala to protest about climate change. It was a lonely pursuit. She was often on her own, or at best with a couple of her siblings or friends. But she quickly started gaining recognition, and has since spoken at the UN and Davos.

However, a year ago she was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when the Associated Press cut her out of a photo with four other white youth climate activists at an international climate conference. That painful experience has since informed her activism and role within the climate movement: "We will not have climate justice without social and racial justice", she says.

So, of all the problems the African continent is facing, why did she choose to raise her voice on climate change - and is anybody listening?

Jakarta: A warning? Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

As sea levels rise due to global warming, what does the future hold for our coasts?

Already threatened by rising tides, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is in a perilous situation - it is sinking. We join reporter Resty Woro Yuniar on a crumbling sea wall to hear the reality of living under sea level, and speak with the engineer responsible for fighting flooding from both the sea and the mountains. We hear about plans to abandon the city as a capital, and try again on drier land.

Author Jeff Goddell describes being next to the glacier that could show just how high the oceans could rise. Solutions in the past have involved building our way out of this problem, but some locations will be too expensive to save. Is Jakarta a warning to us all?

A year to save the world Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

Five years ago, there was widespread celebration after world leaders signed up to the Paris Agreement. However, despite pledging to pursue efforts to limit global warming to just 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, emissions have continued to rise. Many are saying the COP26 conference in late 2021, where world leaders will meet again, is a make-or-break moment to turn words into action. What needs to be achieved? What is the cost of failure? And where are the signs of hope for success?

Justin Rowlatt and Navin Singh Khadka talk to Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF), who was previously France’s climate change ambassador and special representative for COP21, and a key architect of the landmark Paris Agreement. They are also joined by Christiana Figuerres, who was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between 2010 and 2016, and Dr Emily Shuckburgh, director of Cambridge Zero at the University of Cambridge, and reader in environmental data science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology.

Producer: Zak Brophy Researcher: Soila Apparicio Editor: Ravin Sampat Sound Design: David Crackles

2020: A year of extremes Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

Not only has this year been one of the hottest on record, but there has also been a catalogue of record breaking extreme weather events. From the unprecedented bush fires in Australia to the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, we pick apart how climate change is impacting weather systems and the lives of millions of people around the world.

Justin Rowlatt, the BBC’s Chief Environment Correspondent, and Navin Singh Khadkha, the multi-lingual environment correspondent for the BBC’s World Service, are joined by Dr Friederike Otto, associate director of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, and an associate professor in the Global Climate Science Programme; Prof Adam Scaife, the head of long range forecasting at the UK's Met Office; and Laura Meller, a Greenpeace spokeswoman on board their ship the Arctic Sunrise. Producer: Zak Brophy Researcher: Soila Apparicio Editor: Ravin Sampat Sound Design: David Crackles

Are Catholics ignoring the Pope on climate change? Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

In 2015, Pope Francis asked Catholics the world over to protect our planet. But five years on, with emissions and extinctions rising, what difference has it made? And have any other religions followed suit? For answers, Neal and Graihagh are joined by two leading voices on the environment: Christiana Figueres, who helped the world reach the Paris Climate Agreement, and Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Pope’s leading climate advisor. They’ll hear evidence from Poland, a Catholic country that runs on coal and where Church leaders are not always in step with the Vatican’s teaching on the environment. They’ll also assess the global impact of the Pope’s green push, and talk about the role of faith in fighting climate change. Produced by Anna Meisel and Eleanor Biggs Editor: Ravin Sampat. Sound Design: Tom Brignall

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