Stories on why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.
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Is space travel a problem for the climate?
As more countries launch more rockets into orbit for commercial and scientific reasons, the space industry is experiencing rapid growth. It’s on the verge of an even greater increase as space tourism takes off. The International Space Station is now open to tourists and private companies have developed rockets that can be reused – all meaning more launches into space. But rocket exhausts contain particles that can affect the climate. What are the potential impacts and is it time to apply the brakes to the new space race? Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Phoebe Keane are joined by: D Raghunanadan, director at the Delhi Science eForum Eloise Marais, associate professor of physical geography at University College London Stephen Freeland, emeritus professor of international law at Western Sydney University. Producer: Darin Graham Researcher: Lizzie Frisby Reporter: Mike Killian Series producer: Alex Lewis Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Emma Rippon
What does war in Ukraine mean for the climate? Part 2: Energy Security
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, parts of the world are so dependent on Russian gas that they have no option but to continue to buy it. This week’s episode looks long term plans for improving energy security, particularly in Europe where the biggest focus is on increasing renewables. Whilst this sounds like great news for the climate, Europe only accounts for 10% of the worlds’ emissions. For fossil fuel rich countries like the United States, energy security policy will mean pumping more oil and gas out of the ground. We visit Bonny Island in the Niger Delta where business in Liquified Natural Gas is booming to explore how other resource rich countries stand to gain from the increase in oil and gas prices. And ask, as the world makes plans to stop purchasing Russian oil and gas, what will this mean for Russia’s climate policy? Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar speak with contributors: Simone Tagliapietra, Senior Fellow and Energy expert at European think tank, Bruegel Laura Cozzi, Chief Modeler at International Energy Agency (IEA) Ken Caldeira, Senior Scientist at Carnegie Institution of Sciences and at Breakthrough Energy Oksana Antonenko, Global Risk Analyst at Control Risks Group Researchers: Natasha Fernandes, Frances Reed and Julian Kwong Reporter: Fyneface Dumnamene is Executive Director at Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre Producer: Dearbhail Starr Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Studio Engineer: Tom Brignell
What does war in Ukraine mean for the climate?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been met with harsh financial sanctions. These have come from North America and Europe. The US and Canada have also banned Russian oil and gas, but Europe has found itself unable to do so - even as natural gas prices soar. The EU receives 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and for many countries, if they turn it off, the lights will go out and they’ll be unable to keep themselves warm. As a result European money continues to pay Russia for its natural gas resources. This episode looks at the short term plans for European countries, dependent on Russian gas, to remove it from their energy systems and ask if this could be the perfect moment to turn away from fossil fuels, including natural gas, and turn toward a much improved renewable energy network? Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by: Victoria Gill, BBC Science and Climate Correspondent Simone Tagliapietra, Senior Fellow specialising in European Union climate and energy policy at think tank, Bruegel Bernice Lee, is Hoffmann Distinguished Fellow for sustainability, Chatham House Team: Producer: Dearbhail Starr Reporter: Alessia Cerantola Researcher: Natasha Fernandes & Frances Read Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
Can we rely on insurance to help rebuild after extreme weather?
Scientists say extreme weather is intensifying and becoming more frequent because of climate change and the impacts are causing huge losses. People living in Brisbane and other parts of eastern Australia dealt with those impacts recently, when heavy rain fell for days - destroying thousands of homes and at least 22 people are known to have died. Authorities declared it a once in a-100-year-event, making it the second disaster of its kind in the same area in just 11 years. While insurers face losses trying to cover it all, reinsurers say climate change is now a number one risk. We talk to residents in Brisbane as they clean up after the floods and ask if insurance can be the world’s safety net as the impacts of climate change intensify? Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by: Ernst Rauch, chief geo and climate scientist, Munich Re Robin McConchie, reporter based in Brisbane. Ekerete Olawoye Gam-Ikon, insurance strategy consultant Maryam Golnaraghi, director, climate change and environment, the Geneva Association Producer: Darin Graham Reporter: Robin McConchie Researchers: Lizzie Frisby, Frances Read, Natasha Fernandes, Perisha Kudhail Series producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?
As climate change brings rising temperatures, droughts and shifting patterns of rainfall, animals are adapting to keep pace. Bird’s bodies are growing smaller, their wingspan longer, lizards are growing larger thumb pads to help them grip more tightly in hurricane strength winds, beak size is changing. We visit the Galapagos, where evolution was first discovered by Charles Darwin, and investigate the many ways animals are adapting their behaviour and physiology to survive the impact of climate change. Changes to climate are also influencing animals’ genetics, meaning that we are seeing species evolve within our own lifetime. However, most animals won’t be able to adapt quickly enough to cope with the speed they need to in order to survive in a warming world. Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble look at what role evolution plays in helping animals adapt to climate change. Contributors: Kiyoko Gotanda, Assistant Professor at Brock University Ramiro Tomala, Expedition leader, Metropolitan Touring in the Galapagos Thor Hanson, conservationist and author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid Anne Charmantier, Director of Research at Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Montpellier With thanks to research carried out by Colin Donihue of Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. Producer: Dearbhail Starr Reporter: Mark Stratton Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
The “unequivocol” consequences of climate change
"A brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity” is how a new major climate change report from the UN described the effect of rising emissions. Already 40% of the world's population is "highly vulnerable" to the impacts according to the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change. And it’s all happening much more quickly than previously thought. Sophie Eastaugh and Jordan Dunbar discuss the findings with a panel of experts and ask how much more serious do things need to get before action is taken? Produced for the BBC World Service by Darin Graham.
How quickly is battery technology advancing?
The need to be able to store electricity as part of our low carbon future, has increased dramatically as the use of renewable energy has expanded. Both solar and wind energy rely on sunlight and weather, only providing intermittent power. Electric cars need to be able to travel greater distances on one charge and cost less to have mass market appeal. It’s clear batteries are a key - but evolving - technology. Improvements still need to be made to their safety, power and cost. Megawatt batteries are being built in many countries, in a step toward creating a renewable energy back-up for the grid. But these batteries are made using Lithium, which is limited because of their size, the length of their lifespan, and their track record in causing fires. We look at the limitations of the batteries that exist right now, and what new technology in the field is expected to bring in the coming 10 to 15 years. We also visit a hydro-pump powered energy storage system in Israel, where the company, Augwind, is developing an interesting alternative to electric batteries. Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar are joined by: Susan Babinec is Program Lead in Energy Storage at the Argonne National Laboratory Sandra Chavez is Director Partnerships at Powerhouse Gary Yang is Founder of UniEnergy Technologies Eshhar Chetsrony is the VP Business Development at Augwind Producer: Dearbhail Starr Reporter: Roni Dori Researchers: Lizzie Frisby Series Producer: Alex Lewis and Rosamund Jones Editor: Emma Rippon Sound Engineer: Andrew Garratt
What will happen if the world's glaciers melt?
We hear a lot about how melting glaciers are contributing to sea-level rise but not so much about the impact inland. In places like Tajikistan, glaciers feed rivers and are a significant water source. As they melt climatologists expect water flows to increase, contributing to a rise in mudslides and floods. But in the long term, the melting ice will lead to water shortages. We look at mountain communities living near glaciers and try to understand what impact this is having now and what might happen in the future. What can we do to prepare for the consequences of glacier melt? Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar are joined by: Edson Ramírez Rodriguez. glaciologist, University of San Andrés Jemma Wadham, professor of glaciology, University of Bristol Natalya Idrisova, project coordinator, The Little Earth Reporter: Navruz Karimov Producers: Darin Graham and Tatyana Movshevich Series Producer: Alex Lewis Researcher: Matilda Welin Editor: Emma Rippon Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Is our obsession with GDP killing the climate?
For nearly a century, governments around the world have measured the health of their economies by a single metric: GDP, or Gross Domestic Product. It measures a country’s economic growth, and over the years has become a shorthand for national progress; a rising GDP is generally understood to mean more people in work, more companies in business, living standards on the rise. Yet, as experts have argued for decades, there is a lot that GDP leaves out. While it measures the value of all goods and services produced and consumed in an economy, it doesn’t account for nature, wellbeing, or planetary health. To GDP, a 100-year-old carbon capturing tree is worthless until its chopped down and sold as timber. Cleaning up after disasters, such as extreme weather events, improve GDP due to the increase in spending - even as people and planet suffer the consequences. In an age of climate breakdown, many economists are arguing that our obsession with GDP is damaging the planet. So is it time to ditch GDP as a measure of progress and come up with a new metric that puts sustainability at its core? Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Tanya Beckett are joined by the economists: Professor Kate Raworth, Senior Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute Professor Tim Jackson, Director of Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity Professor Jayati Ghosh, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Dr Celestin Monga, visiting professor of public policy at Harvard University
Can we believe companies’ promises on climate?
Ahead of COP 26, there was a rush of businesses declaring their commitment to “net zero” emissions targets. But concerns were raised about how credible these targets were. Critics pointed out that many companies’ plans did not require them to change behaviour any time soon or be held accountable for realising them....and that actually some of their promises just weren’t good enough. In this edition of The Climate Question, Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar ask how much can we believe in companies’ promises on climate?
How committed is China to climate change?
At the UN climate summit in Glasgow last year, China and the United States announced they will work together on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Experts say this is a significant move because China and the United States are the two largest economies and polluters. China emits the most greenhouse gasses, around 27% of global emissions, but it is walking a narrow path between its energy crisis and its commitment to climate work. There are reports of plans to build up to 80 new coal power plants. Without China acting, attempts to keep global temperatures down will not work. How committed is China to climate change? Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar are joined by: Changhua Wu, executive director of the Professional Association for China’s Environment Todd Stern, former climate envoy, United States Bernice Lee, research director, Chatham House Producer: Darin Graham Reporter: Sophia Yan Researchers: Tatyana Movshevich and Matilda Welin Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
Are we too reliant on tech that’s not invented yet?
Written into many of the promises made by countries about how they intend to achieve their UN climate pledges to reduce emissions is an assumption that technology will help them make this happen. But this technology either does not currently exist or is in its infancy. This includes schemes to take carbon out of the air via carbon capture and storage or direct air capture and to replace our dependency on fossil fuels with green hydrogen. We visit the world’s largest direct air capture plant in Iceland and speak to the person in charge of Namibia’s grand plans to become the green hydrogen production hub of the world - can both really be scaled up in order to meet our current needs? Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar are joined by: Zeke Hausfather, Director of Climate and Energy at the Breakthrough Institute, Victoria Gill, BBC’s Science Correspondent, Christoph Beuttler, Head of Climate Policy at Climeworks, and Jane Olwoch, Executive Director of South African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) Producer: Dearbhail Starr Researcher: Tatyana Movshevich and Zoe Gelber Reporter: Magnús Geir Eyjólfsson Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Can putting a price on nature help us care about it more?
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. A marketplace now exists where countries and big business can pay others to protect their forests, swamps and bogs in return for offsetting their emissions. Could giving nature a dollar value make us care about it more and help us fight against climate change? Presenters Kate Lamble and Jordan Dunbar are joined by: Kevin Conrad, founder, Coalition for Rainforests Tina Stege, climate envoy, Marshall Islands Pavan Sukhdev, chief executive officer, GIST Producer: Darin Graham Researcher: Natasha Fernandez Reporter: Gloria Bivigou Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon Sound engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Are we putting too much faith into electric vehicles?
Billions of dollars are being invested in electric vehicles in the name of fighting climate change. World leaders are backing them as the green fix for our burgeoning road transport emissions. But when you factor in the carbon emissions that come from manufacturing EVs, how well do they stack up against their petrol and diesel counterparts? If all the cars on the road switched to EVs, could we meet our climate targets? This week The Climate Question looks under the bonnet of electric vehicles – and whether there is an altogether better solution. Presenters Neal Razzell and Kate Lamble are joined by: Heather Maclean, Professor of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto Quentin Willson, Motoring journalist and EV campaigner Clarisse Cunha Linke, Brazil Director of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy Producer: Sophie Eastaugh Researcher: Natasha Fernandes Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Is science fiction holding back climate action?
For centuries, we’ve been reading, watching and listening to science fiction. And all too often, it’s pretty pessimistic about our future, especially when it touches on the topic of climate change. This is leading some to ask whether these doom and gloom stories are doing the climate fight more harm than good - causing us to feel so anxious and powerless that we don’t take action. So for this week's climate question, Graihagh Jackson is asking: Is sci-fi holding us back? First broadcast on 5th April 2021. Graihagh Jackson is joined by: Amy Brady, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books, where she writes a monthly column called Burning Worlds. In it she explores how fiction addresses climate change. Cheryl Slean is a playwright, filmmaker and educator working with the National Resource Defense Council’s Re-write the Future campaign to increase accurate climate stories in film and television. Ken Liu is a futurist and author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards. His debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series. Producer: Jordan Dunbar Editor: Emma Rippon Sound Engineer: Andy Garratt and Tom Brignell