The Climate Question

What do you think of when you think about our oceans? Maybe you see a picture of our planet with a big patch of blue? Maybe you think about storms or dramatic ocean voyages? Maybe fish or coral reefs? In this edition of...

Across the world vehicle manufacturers are racing to make zero emission cars in the move away from fossil-fuel powered vehicles. It’s a huge market which could reach 9 trillion dollars worldwide by 2030. One small...

How can the world speed up its efforts to fight climate change? It’s been a dramatic fortnight at the COP climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belem, with torrential rains and floods, protests and even a fire. A deal...

The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw...

Carbon dioxide is a molecule so important it has shaped life on Earth for billions of years. Without it, there would be no plants, no oceans, no people. But now, after centuries of burning coal, oil and gas, it's in the...

Every year, tens of thousands of people — from world leaders to activists to celebrities— gather for one of the world’s most ambitious meetings: the UN’s annual climate summit, COP. But what does it actually take to...

The Amazon is probably the most famous rainforest on Earth. It’s home to Indigenous communities, one of the world's biggest rivers and a diversity of plant and animal life found nowhere else. But it’s also a region rich...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Climate change is melting thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas and having a devastating impact on the people who live there. In 2024, the BBC's Caroline Davies visited the Pakistani side of the world's highest...

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...

From coral reefs and mangroves to raising the land itself, how small island nations are using natural and innovative techniques to adapt to rising sea levels and extreme weather events linked to climate change. Jordan...

Rare earths have been described as the oil of the 21st century, incredibly valuable both economically and in the fight against climate change. There's a battle underway around the world to mine and control these...

Could changing weather patterns due to climate change make a difference to where and when we travel, or to the cost of our holidays? It was the hottest June on record for Western Europe, according to the EU’s climate...

Delhi’s roads are being taken over by electric mopeds, scooters and rickshaws. More than fifty per cent of two- and three-wheelers are already electric, and the market is expected to continue growing. It’s good news for...

Climate change is having major health impacts around the world - which are only expected to increase as our planet gets warmer. These impacts range from heat stroke to the spread of tropical diseases, from hospitals...