The Climate Question

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 disinformation harder to spot - and more divisive. Host Jordan Dunbar is joined by Jacqui Wakefield, global disinformation reporter with the BBC World Service and guests Marco Silva, climate disinformation journalist at BBC Verify and Prof Michael E Mann, climatologist and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania.Researcher: Tsogzolmaa Shofyor Producer: Osman Iqbal Editor: Simon WattsTell us what you think of the show or send us your own climate question. Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or Whatsapp: +44 8000 321 721

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 businesses can pay others to protect their forests, swamps and bogs in return for offsetting their emissions. But several of these schemes have faced scandal and corruption. Could the world’s largest biodiversity conference in Colombia, COP16, help put a stop to that? 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 Tell us what you think of the show or send us your own climate question. Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or Whatsapp: +44 8000 321 721 Producers: Darin Graham and Graihagh Jackson Researcher: Natasha Fernandez Reporter: Gloria Bivigou Series producers: Alex Lewis and Simon Watts Sound engineers: Graham Puddifoot and Tom Brignell

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 than 1000 years. There are also questions on the carbon cost of generative AI, the discovery of "black" oxygen in our oceans and deep-sea mining. Plus, which animal has the biggest carbon footprint?If you've got a query, email us at theclimatequestion@bbc.com or leave a Whatsapp message on +44 8000 321 721Producer: Osman Iqbal Sound mix: Gareth Jones and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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 US presidential election in November? And how are politicians in Georgia talking about the issue. Jordan Dunbar takes a road trip across the state to find out.Got a question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Presenter: Jordan Dunbar Producer: Beth Timmins Sound engineer: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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.Got a question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Host: Graihagh Jackson Reporter in Indonesia: Johanes Hutabarat Producer: Osman Iqbal Sound Mix: James Beard Editor: Simon Watts

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 721Presenter: Jordan Dunbar Producers: Octavia Woodward and Graihagh Jackson Sound mix: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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 mayor of one of the world's biggest metropolises. And we hear how climate change is fuelling a crisis for cocoa growers in Ivory Coast - and sending global prices for chocolate sky high. John Murphy from the BBC's Assignment podcast has that story.Email us your comments and questions to theclimatequestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Presenter and Producer: Graihagh Jackson Reporter: Esme Stallard, Will Grant, John Murphy Sound engineer: Morgan Roberts and David Crackles Editor: Simon Watts

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 Watts

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 Essex, England, to find out why the area’s becoming a hotspot for boutique wine. And she travels to Penedes in Catalonia, where one of Spain’s oldest family wine companies, Familia Torres, are battling a four-year drought. How can traditional wine growers adapt to the challenge of a warming world? Featuring: Katie & Umut Yesil, Co-founders of Riverview Crouch Valley wine in Essex Duncan McNeil, vineyard manager in Essex Miguel Torres, President of Familia Torres in Spain Josep Sabarich, Chief Winemaker at Familia Torres Mireia Torres, Director of Knowledge and Innovation at Familia Torres Email us your comments and questions to theclimatequestion@bbc.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Production team: Presenter: Sophie Eastaugh Producers: Sophie Eastaugh, Jordan Dunbar and Osman Iqbal Production coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound designer: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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 programme. Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@BBC.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721 Presenter: Graihagh Jackson Reporter: Tasnim Khandoker Producer: Octavia Woodward Additional Production: Farhana Haider Production co-ordinators: Brenda Brown, Sophie Hill Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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 like a sponge, mopping up rainwater instead of letting it pool and eventually flood our homes. Professor Priti Parikh tells Jordan Dunbar how these spongey solutions have many benefits beyond flooding, encouraging biodiversity, helping our mental health and storing the planet warming gas, carbon dioxide. The BBC’s China Correspondent, Laura Bicker, meets the man who came up with the concept, Professor Kongjian Yu, and visits Zhengzhou, a sponge city in the making. And Katya Reyna tells Jordan how her NGO is helping low-income communities in Portland in the US to ‘depave’ disused car parks, turning them into plant-oases. Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@BBC.com or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721 Contributors: Priti Parikh, Professor of Infrastructure Engineering and International Development, University College London and a Trustee at the Institution of Civil Engineers Laura Bicker, BBC China Correspondent Professor Kongjian Yu, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Peking University in Beijing Katya Reyna, Co-Director of Depave, in Portland, USAProducers: Graihagh Jackson, Ben Cooper and Joyce Liu Mixing: Tom Brignell and Andy Fell Editor: Simon Watts

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, Graihagh visits a Climate Question listener to investigate his idea of using yoghurt to keep our homes cool in heatwaves!If you've got a head-scratcher, email us at theclimatequestion@bbc.com or leave a Whatsapp message on +44 8000 321 721 Producer: Osman Iqbal Sound Engineers: Andy Fell and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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 has contributed very little to the industrial emissions that fuel the global climate crisis. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, financial aid to help locals adapt has drastically dropped, leaving Afghans to take matters into their own hands. But presenters Graihagh Jackson and Barry Sadid hear how the diaspora is helping villages back home to build life-saving dams and protect themselves against extreme weather. And we ask if there’s a way for foreign governments to financially support Afghanistan without legitimizing the Taliban. Experts include: Dr Orzala Nemat, Development Research Group LTD Najib Sadid, an Afghan hydrologist based in Germany Naim Yosufi, Project Manager for the Daikundi Irrigation Project Mohammad Ayoub, Keil Mosque, Germany Have a question you’d like answered? Email: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or Whatsapp +44 8000 321 721, starting your message with "climate"Producers: Jordan Dunbar and Barry Sadid from BBC Monitoring Sound Engineers: Tom Brignell and Hal Haines Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford, Sophie Hill, Brenda Brown Editor: Simon Watts

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 protect forests in Borneo and ColombiaProduction team: Osman Iqbal, Zoe Gelber, Craig Langran, Tom Colls, Jon Bithrey and Simon Watts Sound mix: Neil Churchill, Hal Haines, Gareth Jones and Tom BrignellGot a question for The Climate Question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com or Whatsapp +44 8000 321 721, starting your message with "climate"

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 books are not just imaginative but scientifically accurate, and some of their ideas have even inspired new thinking about climate-proofing technology. Kim Stanley Robinson has been talking to the Climate Question team.Presenters: Jordan Dunbar and Graihagh Jackson Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Simon Watts Sound Mix: Tom BrignellGot a question for The Climate Question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com