The Climate Question

When Cyclone Freddy swept through Malawi, it left 100s of thousands of people destitute. Now, survivors are among the first in the world to receive a new kind of climate compensation to relocate and rebuild their lives. This "loss and damage" funding is one of the key issues at the COP meeting in Baku. This year, the focus of the global climate summit is the help which more developed nations shoul...

In his latest climate change 101, Jordan Dunbar looks at the world's success stories. These include the rise of renewable energy, greener urban planning and deep - if insufficient - cuts in carbon emissions. His guest is Dr Caterina Brandmayr, Director of Policy and Translation, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London. Presenter and Producer: Jordan Dunba...

In a special programme, The Climate Question join forces with The Global News Podcast to tackle listeners' climate questions from around the world. How does war impact climate change? How can we protect small island nations? And what practical actions can we all take as individuals? Plus, what to look out for at COP 29, The UN's annual Climate Change conference, set to open in Azerbaijan. The Clim...

How will the US election result alter climate policy at home and abroad? Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar hear from BBC Environment Correspondent Matt McGrath, US Environment Correspondent Carl Nasman and Zerin Osho, Director of the India Programme at the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development in Washington DC. Producers: Octavia Woodward and Jordan Dunbar Sound Mix: Neil Churchill...

Climate science and reporting are vital to understanding how our climate is changing and what we can do about it. But false information about climate change spread online is causing big problems. It’s no longer just about saying that climate change isn't happening; it’s increasingly about spreading uncertainty about its causes, its speed and the solutions. That’s making climate misinformation and...

Everyone who steps outside can appreciate the value that the natural world brings to our lives. To some people, the idea of placing a monetary value on trees and mangrove forests is wrong because nature and its gifts are priceless. But others say the love of nature has not stopped it from being polluted or destroyed. The natural world plays a major role in capturing the carbon from our atmosphere....

Climate Question listeners take over the programme again with their head-scratchers. Graihagh Jackson and her panel: Justin Rowlatt, BBC climate editor, Akshat Rathi, senior climate reporter for Bloomberg News and host of Bloomberg's Zero podcast and Caroline Steel, presenter of BBC Crowdscience, ponder the impact of deforestation and marvel at the beauty of sequoia trees, which can live for more...

The southern US state of Georgia has received billions of dollars in investment in clean technology, creating tens of thousands of jobs at solar power factories and electric vehicle factories. It is also on the front-line of extreme weather - facing the threat of hurricanes, heatwaves and drought. So will voters in this swing state be considering climate change when they cast their ballots for the...

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 h...

Experts predict that millions of people around the world will have to migrate by 2050 because of sea level rise linked to climate change. How will they cope? Jordan Dunbar hears stories from Fiji and the UK. Email us your comments and questions to theclimatequestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721 Presenter: Jordan Dunbar Producers: Octavia Woodward and Graihagh Jackson Sound mix: Tom Brigne...

The United Nations has just published a worrying new report about the rate of sea level rise in the Pacific. BBC climate reporter Esme Stallard talks us through the details. Plus, Mexico is preparing for the inauguration of an environmental scientist as its new president. The BBC's Will Grant heads to a bustling market in Mexico City to report on Claudia Sheinbaum's record in her previous job as m...

BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt travels to Somalia to investigate the links between global warming and the decades-long conflict there. He hears how Somalis are responding by launching businesses and their own renewables industry. Presenter: Justin Rowlatt Producer in Somalia: Stuart Phillips Producers in London: Miho Tanaka, Sara Hegarty Sound Mix: Tom Brignell and David Crackles Editor: Simon...

Climate change is transforming wine production around the world. New wine-growing regions are emerging, where the conditions have never been better; while for many traditional producers, drought and rising temperatures are causing a crisis. How is the changing climate impacting the taste and origin of wine, and who are the winners and losers? Presenter Sophie Eastaugh heads to the Crouch Valley in...

Extreme weather, such as droughts and storms, is increasing the risk of more girls being pushed into child marriage. Graihagh Jackson speaks to girls and parents in Bangladesh who are experiencing these impacts first hand, and finds out why this is happening and what is being done to stop the problem. A huge thanks to UNICEF and Save the Children's Gabrielle Szabo, for their help in making this pr...

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 li...

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, G...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 Noms...

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...

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...

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...

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 climat...