Bonus: War and climate
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do conflicts like the US-Israel war with Iran impact our planet?
In this special bonus episode of The Climate Question podcast, we answer listeners’ questions about the environmental cost of armed conflict, from Gaza to Ukraine. We examine the carbon footprint of battle itself - the jets, the bombs, the supply lines - and the impact of maintaining armies and bases during peacetime. We also ask our experts if there are any ways for the military to reduce their emissions and whether commanders now see climate change as a strategic threat.
You can hear more episodes of The Climate Question every week, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Recently, the team have looked at the climate challenge facing the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the green energy revolution in China and what whales tells us about the state of our planet.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.5 | We definitely do not have quiet days anymore in American politics. |
| 0:12.5 | Our podcast will help you cut through all the noise. |
| 0:15.9 | Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. |
| 0:20.8 | America's, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:24.2 | Hello, I'm Oliver Conway from the Global News podcast, and as the US-Israeli war with Iran continues, |
| 0:30.6 | we thought you might like to hear another BBC World Service podcast, The Climate Question. |
| 0:35.7 | They've had lots of listener questions about the climate |
| 0:38.3 | impact of military conflict. You can listen to the episode right here. |
| 0:45.1 | War leaves a visible trail of destruction. The loss of life. Homes destroyed. Cities reduced |
| 0:52.3 | to rubble. But there's another consequence that's rarely talked about, one that's mostly invisible, |
| 1:00.0 | yet felt everywhere on the planet. |
| 1:03.2 | This week, we're asking, what's the climate cost of war? |
| 1:08.0 | From the BBC World Service, this is the Climate Question, and I'm Graia Jackson. |
| 1:14.6 | A huge thank you to all of you who got in touch with us about this topic, including Kekka from Czech Republic and James on YouTube. |
| 1:22.1 | A quick note before we start. We'd already planned this show long before the US-Israel war with Iran erupted, and we're |
| 1:28.9 | recording this four days after the initial strikes on the country. |
| 1:32.9 | The US has struck an Iranian Navy ship off the coast of Sri Lanka. |
| 1:36.8 | 140 people have thought to be missing after that attack, while Iran has targeted US |
| 1:42.0 | allies across the Middle East firing drones and missiles on Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. |
| 1:48.5 | But our focus isn't who's right and who's wrong. We're looking instead at the climate impact of military activity, |
| 1:55.8 | something that remains relevant no matter the conflict. So let me introduce you to the guests who are going to help us |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.