The Climate Question

Emma Tracey starts 2024 by hearing from Kenya and Costa Rica, two of the countries ranked highest in the fightback against climate change. She talks to on-the-ground reporters in Nairobi and San Jose, while Climate Question regular Mia Moisio explains which nations score well on the Climate Action Tracker and what the rest of the world can learn from them. Reporters: Michael Kaloki in Kenya and Ci...

Budding comedian (and Climate Question presenter) Jordan Dunbar sets out to discover if humour can help us understand - and cope with - global warming. Jordan gets advice from comics and academics from around the world, and then performs his own climate change routine at a stand-up comedy venue in London. Presenter and part-time comedian: Jordan Dunbar Full-time comedians: Dr Jason Leung, Njambi M...

2023 was the hottest year on record. How did the planet cope? And what has the world actually done to tackle climate change? The BBC’s Graihagh Jackson is joined by a panel of journalists and experts for an annual stocktake of the climate crisis. Under review from the past twelve months are wonky weather patterns, clever energy solutions and tense diplomatic negotiations. Graihagh Jackson: Present...

The deal at this year's COP conference in Dubai is being hailed as "historic" because it's the first time nearly 200 countries have all acknowledged the role of fossil fuels in Climate Change. But critics says the agreement is riddled with loopholes, and that the pledge to "transition" from oil, gas, and coal is too weak. So who's right? And what difference will this year's discussions make? Graih...

As part of the BBC's 100 Women season, Mercy Juma in Nairobi talks to three leading activists from Africa. What are the particular effects of Climate Change on women? Are their voices being heard? And what positive action can be taken? Presenter: Mercy Juma Guests: Dr Susan Chomba, World Resources Institute; Dr Sahondra Kiplagat, Environmental Psychologist and Lecturer at University of Nairobi; Te...

As the world’s attention turns to this year’s COP summit in the UAE, questions remain about the host country and conference president. It’s not the first time that an oil-producing country has hosted the climate change summit. But some environmental campaigners are unhappy about COP28 being held in the United Arab Emirates, and the choice of conference president, Dr. Sultan Al-Jaber – the CEO of t...

Graihagh Jackson and BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt team up with the BBC's Global News Podcast to answer listeners' questions. They cover everything from the big COP summit in Dubai to tree-planting, nuclear fusion and what action to take personally on Climate Change. Presenter: Nick Miles Guests: Climate Question Host Graihagh Jackson and BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt Producers: Osman Iqba...

It's the world's biggest - and most controversial - climate conference. But how does it actually work? And does it make a difference? Jordan Dunbar investigates. To help get some simple answers to simple questions, Jordan is joined by climate experts- Dr Mosunda Mumba, Secretary General of the Wetlands Convention Professor David Victor of Innovation and Public Policy University of California, San...

In his latest Climate Change 101, Jordan Dunbar finds out why 1.5C is the world's target for limiting global warming. Why 1.5 degrees? And what happens if we miss the goal?

Nearly three decades since the United Nations climate talks began, we take a look at what it has achieved when it comes to tackling climate change. We also look towards COP 28 taking place in Dubai and ask what progress can be made at the latest round of negotiations. It’s the only international negotiation on climate change and a unique opportunity to get agreement on how to best tackle global wa...

As the world faces up to the increasingly apparent effects of climate change, access to accurate information that helps us to understand what’s going on, why, and what we can do about it, is vital. But in its efforts to do this, the science community is facing a growing amount of abuse from people who do not believe what they’re saying. Anger at the science is leading to threats against the scient...

Greenland is an island covered in a sheet of ice that is over 3km thick in places, containing 7.4 metres of average global sea level rise. Due to climate change, it’s melting at an astonishing rate. We meet some of the people being forced to rapidly adapt their traditional ways of life. And find out why ice loss means sea level rises for elsewhere in the world – but the opposite for the island its...

The Yasuni National Park in Ecuador forms part of the Amazon rainforest and is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. It also produces 60,000 barrels of oil per day. In a recent referendum, held as part of Ecuador’s Presidential elections, people voted to stop drilling for oil – including the newly elected President Daniel Noboa. We visit the town of El Coca – the gateway to the park -...

This week we hear from listeners about the ways they cope and how they remain positive on climate change. From being involved in a like-minded community, to taking action in everyday ways. Or just knowing that the brightest minds are pushing innovative climate solutions forward every day. In a wave of negative climate news, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and uncertain about the future. Climate...

Bill Gates, the tech billionaire turned philanthropist, has been combating poverty, disease, and inequity around the world for decades. However, in recent years he has shifted focus and resources towards the climate crisis. Gates believes fighting climate change and fighting poverty are two sides of the same coin. Food, health and economic crises will last longer and become more severe as climate...

This week we speak to people in the greater Horn of Africa, experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. It's left 23 million people at risk of starvation and new research has found that it was 100 times more likely to have happened because of climate change. Presenter Sophie Eastaugh hears about a climate adaptation strategy pioneered by the Maasai people. Food insecurity, conflict and perishing l...

About 16 percent of the world’s population is thought to be disabled, but they are still 2 to 4 times more likely to be injured or killed in a natural disaster than those who are not disabled. Emma Tracey, from the BBC’s Access All podcast, investigates for The Climate Question, meeting disabled people who have dealt with extreme weather events first hand. As well as those who are researching and...

This week, we’re off to Costa Rica, an eco-tourism hotspot in collaboration with BBC’s The Travel Show. Eco-tourism is big business - it’s forecasted to generate $103 billion annually by 2027. But how well do its green claims actually stack up when it comes to the climate? Presenter Qasa Alom visits the birthplace of Sea Turtle conservation, goes on patrol with a ranger protecting the forest from...

The Climate Question receives lots of emails from listeners asking about the impact that the food and drink we consume on a daily basis has on the environment and climate: which foods are most associated with greenhouse gas emissions? Which fruits and vegetables are the most sustainable choices at the supermarket? How would a tax on carbon-intensive imported produce, like beef, work? In this progr...

In this, the second episode in our spin-off series on Climate Quitters, we invite trailblazers from three different continents to reveal the ups and down, highs and lows of their new lives in climate conscious careers. In Mumbai, Namita Dandekar swapped a role marketing stock for one of India's largest - and wealthiest - conglomerates for a front-line position with The RainTree Foundation, an orga...

Bornholm – a Danish island in the Baltic Sea – is trying to go carbon neutral by 2025. It is a lofty ambition that would put the island decades ahead of most countries. This dream has been 15 years in the making; a crash in fish stocks meant Bornholmers had to reinvent themselves and they chose to become ‘the bright green island’. Since then, they have been making biogas from pig manure, building...

The live music industry is booming. With global growth in concerts and festivals, more and more of us are enjoying our favourite bands and artists live. The music industry now relies on touring for money – encouraging more and more bands to travel and fans to see them. This is causing emissions to soar just like the private jets. So what can be done? Jordan Dunbar discovers the problem isn’t comin...

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has been raising awareness of the impact that climate change is having on small island nations like hers, from the Caribbean to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In addition to facing more extreme weather and temperatures, these islands also have to contend with the threat posed by rising sea levels – which, for some islands, is existential. In this episod...

Jordan Dunbar introduces The Climate Question's guide to the Climate Change basics - with the help of some friends of the show.

July 2023 has been confirmed as the hottest month ever on Earth. A combination of heatwaves across the Northern Hemisphere, unseasonable warmth in parts of South America and Antarctica, and global sea surface temperatures around 0.51°C above the 30-year average, meant it broke all previous records. Climate scientists are now poring over the data, including Prof Jim Skea, the newly-elected chair of...