The Climate Question

Latest Episodes:

Can Mumbai cope with a changing monsoon? Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Mumbai is India’s economic engine, but every rainy season this megacity comes to a virtual standstill as torrential rains flood streets, homes and transport networks. In 2005, Mumbai faced one of its worst floods on record – and experts warn that climate change could make future rainfall even more intense.

This week, Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar explore what’s happening with Mumbai and the mighty monsoon – and how a city of more than 20 million people can adapt to a wetter, more unpredictable future.

They hear from BBC Marathi correspondent Janhavee Moole and Zerin Osho, Director of the India Programme at the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, about the challenges to India’s financial capital.

Guests: Janhavee Moole, BBC Marathi Zerin Osho, Director, India Programme, Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development

Production Team: Jordan Dunbar, Grace Braddock, Tom Brignell, Joe McCartney, Diane Richardson, Nik Sindle Editor: Simon Watts

Got a question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

Can we build better cities for mental health and the climate? Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

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 and also help us deal with stress or depression?

In a programme first broadcast in 2024, Jordan Dunbar hears about examples in the Netherlands and Egypt. Are there win-win options out there that can help the world deal with two of its biggest challenges?

Contributors: Houssam Elokda -Urban Planner, with Happy Cities, Vancouver Sally Nabil - BBC Arabic Egypt Correspondent, Cairo Anna Holligan - BBC Correspondent, The Hague, Netherlands

Production Team: Graihagh Jackson, Octavia Woodward, Brenda Brown Sound Design: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

Got a question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

What do ice cores tells us about climate change? Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

What can ice cores tell us about the atmosphere millions of years ago?

These cylinders of ice, drilled from glaciers and ice sheets around the world, preserve precious clues about our changing climate and records such as rainfall, temperature and greenhouse gases, even volcanic eruptions. But what can the past tell us about the future?

Host Graihagh Jackson hears from two ice core experts about their icy adventures in Antarctica, the Himalayas and beyond.

Dr Liz Thomas is Head of Ice Cores Research at the British Antarctic Survey and is currently working on an ice core that may be the oldest ever.

Lonnie Thompson is a pioneer in the field whose first ice core finds date back to the 1970s. He is Distinguished University Professor of Earth Sciences. Senior Research Scientist, Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University. Professor Thompson also appears in a documentary called The Canary.

Presenter: Graihagh Jackson Producers: Diane Richardson and Nik Sindle Production coordinator: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck Sound mix: Tom Brignell and Louis Griffin Editor: Simon Watts

Why don’t we use more geothermal energy? Sep 28, 2025

Show notes

Geothermal energy is renewable, reliable and powerful. So, why is most of it untapped? That’s what our listener, Anna in the UK, wants to know. Full disclosure, she’s a geologist and is thoroughly perplexed by the lack of uptake. Geothermal is renewable, reliable and abundant and yet, less than 1% of the world’s energy is generated from it. Host Graihagh Jackson hears about a team in Iceland who hope to "super-charge" geothermal power by drilling directly into volcanic magma. And she travels to Germany to visit Vulcan Energy, a company which is combining geothermal with extracting one of the world's most sought-after metals: Lithium. Plus, our reporter in Indonesia tells Graihagh about local opposition to some geothermal power plants. The programme was first broadcast in 2024. Got a question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721 Host: Graihagh Jackson Reporter in Indonesia: Johanes Hutabarat Producer: Osman Iqbal Sound Mix: James Beard and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

How does extreme heat affect pregnancy? Sep 21, 2025

Show notes

Graihagh Jackson and the BBC’s former Global Health Correspondent Tulip Mazumdar investigate how extreme heat, fuelled by climate change, is affecting pregnant women in India. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Tulip hears the heart-breaking stories of some of the women affected and explores simple solutions that would make their work in scorching agricultural fields safer. The programme was first broadcast in 2024. Email us at theclimatequestion@bbc.com Produced by Sophie Eastaugh, Graihagh Jackson and Camilla Horrox Editor: Sophie Eastaugh Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell and James Beard Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown

Will the switch to green technology become unstoppable? Sep 15, 2025

Show notes

When people talk about tipping points in the climate, it’s usually bad news – the irreversible melting of ice sheets or the collapse of rainforests. But could there be positive tipping points too, moments where climate solutions break through and spread rapidly?

Tim Lenton, Professor of Climate Change at the University of Exeter and author of Positive Tipping Points: How to Fix the Climate Crisis, says it’s already happening – from the dramatic rise of renewable energy to the surge in electric vehicles. He explains how in Norway, the 80s pop band A-Ha played a crucial role in making EVs mainstream.

So, could positive tipping points hold the key to addressing the climate crisis? Hosts Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar speak to Professor Lenton about how positive tipping points happen and what we can learn from them. Got a question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com Production Team: Jonathan Baker, Grace Braddock, Tom Brignell, Diane Richardson, Sabine Schereck and Nik Sindle Editor: Simon Watts

Will there be a solar power boom in Africa? Sep 08, 2025

Show notes

Africa gets a world beating amount of sunshine — but has just 1% of the world’s solar panels.

Over half the continent still lives without electricity, stalling progress and holding back people’s lives. But change may be coming — thanks to a surge in solar imports from China.

New data from energy think tank EMBER shows a 60% jump in solar panel shipments to Africa in the past year. If installed, they could generate 15 GW — nearly doubling Africa’s current solar capacity.

It’s not just the biggest energy users like South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria. Countries like Liberia, DRC, Benin, Angola, and Ethiopia have tripled their imports.

So, is this the start of a solar-powered revolution on the continent?

Hosts Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar speak to Dr Rose Mutiso, Science Advisor at the Energy for Growth Hub and Founder of the African Tech Futures Lab.

Got a question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

Production Team: Jordan Dunbar, Nik Sindle, Diane Richardson, Grace Braddock, Chris Gouzaris and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

Are wetlands our secret weapon in fighting climate change? Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

The world's wetlands store carbon and can help us tackle some of the impacts of climate change. Are we overlooking their importance? And what can we do to protect them more?

Graihagh Jackson travels to wetlands near her home in East Anglia while Qasa Alom reports from the Bay of Bengal. And The Climate Question catches up with an old friend of the show, Dr Musonda Mumba, Secretary-General of the Convention on Wetlands.

This programme was first broadcast in 2024.

Production team: Osman Iqbal, Octavia Woodward, Brenda Brown, Simon Watts Sound design by Tom Brignell.

Send your questions to: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

Can we build a world where hurricanes can't kill? Aug 25, 2025

Show notes

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated America’s Gulf coast and overwhelmed the city of New Orleans. The destruction and the response to the storm became infamous and are debated to this day.

Climate scientists warn that the warming world is likely to make typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes more intense and so even more dangerous.

Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar ask what the world has learned since the disaster in New Orleans, and how we can build cities that can stand up better to more extreme weather events.

They chat to Prof Reggie DesRoches, an engineer who was on the ground in the aftermath of Katrina to help find out what had gone wrong. His work specialises in adapting infrastructure for natural disasters, including developing innovative materials and practical techniques that might just help us adapt to more violent storms.

Can we build a world where hurricanes can't kill?

Guest: Prof Reggie DesRoches, President, Rice University, Houston

Presenter: Graihagh Jackson with Jordan Dunbar Producers: Jordan Dunbar, Di Richardson and Nik Sindle Sound mix: Tom Brignell and Sarah Kimberley Editor: Simon Watts

Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@BBC.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721

Is Brazil doing enough to protect the Amazon? Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

This week Host Graihagh Jackson grabs a chat with the BBC’s correspondents in two countries that will shape our future climate.

Brazil is about to host the giant COP climate conference in the Amazon, but the pace of reducing deforestation has just slowed and there are concerns about potentially weaker environmental standards. Ione Wells in Sao Paulo also talks Graihagh through proposals for oil exploration in the mouth of the rainforest.

Plus, China has just started work on the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam. It’s a huge 167-billion dollar project to bring power from Tibet to Hong Kong. The dam will increase Beijing’s use of renewable energy, but comes with a potential environmental cost, as well as the risk of creating tension with China’s neighbours. Laura Bicker gives us some staggering facts and figures about the dam – as well as an explanation of how fish can use “ladders”.

Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@BBC.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721

Presenter: Graihagh Jackson with Jordan Dunbar Producer: Diane Richardson Production Co-Ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Sound Engineers: Dafydd Evans and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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