The Climate Question

Funeral rites are steeped in culture, tradition and faith, with most of the world opting for cremation or burial. However, with new research now revealing the carbon impact of established funeral choices, more people are questioning their cost to the climate. With alternatives such as ‘water cremation’ and ‘eco-burials’ becoming available, will people start to consider another way?Presenter Jordan Dunbar hears about initiatives in India to modify traditional funeral pyres, calculates the climate cost of the most common choices, and hears from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter, Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth, about her surprise at her father’s final act on earth.Producer: Osman Iqbal Researcher: Octavia Woodward Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

Climate change has been tightening its grip on the people of Afghanistan, with flood after flood and drought after drought. It’s considered to be 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 climate crisis. Since the Taliban takeover two years ago, financial aid to help locals adapt has drastically dropped, leaving Afghans to take matters into their own hands. Presenters Graihagh Jackson and Barry Sadid hear how the diaspora are helping villages back home to build life-saving dams and protect themselves against flood and drought. And we ask if there’s a way for foreign governments to financially support Afghanistan without legitimising the Taliban.Producers: Jordan Dunbar and Barry Sadid from BBC Monitoring Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

Scientists say an El Nino weather event has started. Its effects will be felt everywhere in the form of heavier rainfall in some parts of the world and deeper droughts in others. What's the link with Climate Change? And is it making it harder for us to prepare?On this week's edition of The Climate Question, Graihagh gets a briefing on El Nino from a leading expert; we travel to Peru to meet the coastal communities on the front line; and we hear how ancient civilisations not only learned to deal with El Nino, but managed to use it to their advantage.Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by: Tom Di Liberto, Meteorologist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in the US Dr George Adamson, Senior Lecturer in Geography, King's College London Dr Laila Shahzad, Disaster Risk expert at Government College, Lahore.Producer: Osman Iqbal BBC reporter in Peru: Guillermo Olmo Research: Octavia Woodward and Matt Toulson Sound: Tom Brignell Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins

The journey from catwalk, to wardrobe, to landfill is getting shorter and shorter. Our demands for fast fashion mean around 100 billion garments are produced every year. We’re buying more, then wearing them less often. Many will end up in the trash. Not only that, there’s been a big growth in clothes being made out of synthetic materials originating from crude oil. In this updated edition, we ask: can fashion cost less to the climate? and how much progress is the industry making? Speaking to Kate Lamble and Sophie Eastaugh are- • Vanessa Friedman, New York Times Fashion Editor • Lily Cole Fashion model, actress and podcast host ‘Who Cares Wins’ • Phillip Meister, Quantis Sustainability Consulting • Claire Bergkamp, Textile Exchange • Sonya Bhonsle, Global Head of Value Chains, CDP. Producers: Jordan Dunbar and Ben Cooper Researcher: Natasha Fernandez Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, is on a mission to fight climate change through a radical scheme to reform the international financial system.Called the Bridgetown Initiative, her plan aims to transform global institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank – freeing up billions, maybe even trillions of dollars, for poorer countries that are struggling to cope with the impacts of a hotter planet.Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by the BBC’s Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, who interviewed Prime Minister Mottley at a crucial climate finance summit in Paris. With time running out in the battle to keep the world below the 1.5C warming threshold, we find out more about her plan, how it works and the progress being made.Producers: Ben Cooper and Miho Tanaka Researcher: Octavia Woodward Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

The world loves coffee. We drink two billion cups each day! But it’s very vulnerable to climate change, and millions of coffee farmers are struggling. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and diseases are threatening our favourite caffeinated drink and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. But there are solutions. We hear from a coffee farmer in Uganda and taste a new variety that could be a gamechanger for coffee in a warming world. Presenter Sophie Eastaugh is joined by: Aruna Chandrasekhar, journalist at Carbon Brief specialising in land and food Dr Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at Kew Gardens Ashley Limaye, journalist at BBC Africa Digital We love to get your questions and comments, please email them or send a voice note to theclimatequestion@bbc.com Producers: Ben Cooper and Chris McHugh Researcher: Louise Byrne Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

With the Ukrainian counter-offensive underway, Sophie Eastaugh looks at the climate damage caused by the conflict there and by the recent civil war in Tigray, Ethiopia. Sophie speaks to Lennard de Klerk, a Dutch specialist in carbon accounting, who’s just published the most comprehensive analysis yet of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the fighting in Ukraine. For her part, an environmental researcher in Kyiv tells The Climate Question her country may have an opportunity to build back greener once the war is over.The programme also hears from farmers in Tigray about how a region once praised internationally for its reforestation efforts is now losing tree cover at an alarming rate.And this edition of The Climate Question looks more broadly at the carbon footprint of militaries around the world, speaking to Professor Neta Crawford, one of the leading experts in the field. Presenter: Sophie Eastaugh Producer: Daniel Gordon Research: Matt Toulson Sound Mix: Tom Brignell Series producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China Collins Production coordinators: Sophie Hill, Debbie Richford Contributors: Lennard de Klerk, Carbon Accounting Expert Professor Neta Crawford, Balliol College, Oxford Natalia Gozak, Ukrainian environmentalist Biniam Gidey, Reporter, Tigray, Ethiopia

This week, we’re off to Costa Rica, an eco-tourism hotspot in collaboration with BBC’s The Travel Show.The Climate Question gets lots of emails from listeners asking what they can do about climate change. Is it morally justifiable to fly for leisure? Which type of fish is most sustainable? And how can I use my career or free time to help the planet? In this programme a panel of experts answer your questions and run through some of the most effective things you can do to make a difference, wherever you are in the world. Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by: Alice Brock, Phd researcher at Southampton University who specialises in personal carbon budgets Disha Ravi, climate activist with Fridays for Future India Tambe Honourine Enow, Founder of the Africa Climate and Environment Foundation If you have a question about climate change that you’d like us to answer, or a comment – please email them to theclimatequestion@bbc.com Producers: Sophie Eastaugh for The Climate Question and Jamie Hamilton for The Travel Show Researcher: Matt Toulson Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

How can you have a successful relationship with someone if you believe passionately in climate action, but they don’t? The fate of our planet can be a divisive, emotive, even frightening issue. It’s something that’s tearing more and more couples and families apart, experts have told us. It’s not easy getting past those differences with the ones we love, but it is possible. We speak to a couple, as well as a mother and daughter, to find out how. And we ask whether the way we talk to our loved ones about climate change might offer important lessons on how we discuss the issue more broadly. Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by: Daze and Antonia Aghaji, from London Caroline Hickman, researcher at the University of Bath in the UK and psychotherapist Mohini and Sam Pollock, from Campbell, CaliforniaThanks to Jasmine Navarro, founder of Nava, for her help with this episode. Producer: Simon Tulett Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China Collins Sound engineer: Tom Brignell Production co-ordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill

The impacts of climate change are already being felt around the world. Research shows that some groups are disproportionately affected. Women already face many socioeconomic, cultural, and political inequities, with those living in areas heavily impacted by natural disasters related to climate change, such as floods, drought, and coastal erosion, enduring even worse outcomes. So what can be done to address this?Presenter Sophie Eastaugh is joined by: Dr. Mayesha Alam, Vice President of Research at FP Analytics, senior fellow at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, and professor at Johns Hopkins University Verania Chao, Programme Specialist in Climate Change, Gender Equality and Inclusion at UNDP Sahar Habib Ghazi, on-the-ground reporter in Sindh province, PakistanProducers: Ben Cooper and Matt Toulson Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China Collins Sound engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill