Summary
Climate change is an existential threat, so are civil disobedience and direct action the only way to save the planet? And is a global carbon tax the best tool to do the job?
Justin Rowlatt speaks to protestors from the new and militant environmentalist movement Extinction Rebellion as they occupy the UK's Department of Energy building in protest at their government's alleged failure to tackle global warming. He also speaks to Ben Stewart of the 49-year-old campaign group Greenpeace, who have themselves been targeted by their new rivals for not being radical enough.
But what policy change should they be calling for? Professor Bill Nordhaus of Yale University received this year's Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on economic models for how government's might go about taxing carbon dioxide emissions. But why does he think that so few governments are implementing it?
Producer: Laurence Knight
(Picture: Extinction Rebellion activists occupying the UK Department of Energy in London; Credit: Roger Harrabin/BBC)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me, Justin Rowlatt. |
| 0:05.9 | Regular listeners will know that this program does not shy from a challenge. |
| 0:10.6 | And that is certainly the case today, because we'll be addressing what is undoubtedly the most important question facing the world, how we tackle climate change. |
| 0:21.2 | Fracking is doable. |
| 0:23.0 | Another world is possible. |
| 0:25.3 | Fracking is acceptable. |
| 0:27.8 | I'll be out on the streets with activists who believe civil disobedience is the only way to ensure the world's climate gets the attention it deserves. |
| 0:37.3 | And we'll be hearing from one of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics. |
| 0:42.1 | He won for his work on climate, yet he says taking to the barricades is not the way to solve the problem. |
| 0:49.0 | This is basically all of us. This is billions of people all need to do their part. So we can't just board some ship like pirates and take it over and think we're going to bend down the curve of carbon dioxide emissions. |
| 1:02.2 | That's Business Daily here on the BBC World Service. |
| 1:12.9 | So where are we going, Timerson? We're going to an action. We're going to Thompson? |
| 1:14.5 | We're going to an action. |
| 1:18.5 | I still don't know where it actually is, because it's all very hush-hash. |
| 1:21.3 | But we're going to go and do something radical. I know that much. |
| 1:25.1 | It's late morning, a rainy Monday in central London, and I am out with an activist cell. |
| 1:27.9 | I mean, I think part of the intention is that we are looking to be arrested. |
| 1:32.3 | These people are part of a movement that calls itself extinction rebellion. |
| 1:36.4 | Today, they're planning an attack at the heart of the British government. |
| 1:40.6 | Yeah, we're just walking past where Scotland Yard used to be. |
| 1:44.3 | Where are we headed? Because you do actually know, Tamsen, don't you? |
| 1:49.0 | To the Department for Energy, Business and Infrastructure. |
... |
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.