UN: The world is on its way to "catastrophic" climate change
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The United Nations is warning that the world is on its way to "catastrophic" climate change, unless huge efforts are made to curb carbon emissions. It says the current goal of limiting warming to one-and-a-half Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, will soon be dead. Current projections are closer to three degrees. We will speak to one of the authors of the UN report.
Former president Donald Trump and vice president Kamala Harris have continued to attack each other as the US election draws closer. Immigration remains one of the major election issues and a top concern of American voters. Newshour's James Menendez has been travelling from Mexico to the southern United States to find out what's driving the debate.
Also, grief and chaos for Palestinians as Israel predicts a ‘sharp conclusion’ in northern Gaza. We hear form a nurse, who filmed moments after an Israeli strike.
And why the Foreign Minister of the Bahamas believes reparatory justice from the UK for the slave trade will happen at some point.
(Photo: Drought destroys local farmer's harvest in Zambia, Mazabuka - 20 Mar 2024. The dry spell from mid-January due to El Nino conditions and climate change is affecting most of the central and southern half of Zambia, leaving 1 million hectares of maize destroyed, almost half of the country's maize cultivation, according to the United Nations (UN). Credit: EPA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome to News Hour. It's coming to you from the BBC World Service |
| 0:08.2 | studios in London with me Tim Franks and we'll also later in the program |
| 0:12.1 | here for my colleague James Menendez in San Antonio, Texas. |
| 0:16.3 | We're going to begin with one of the UN Secretary General's favorite alarmist metaphors. |
| 0:22.0 | We are, he said said today playing with fire. It is an apt image given |
| 0:27.1 | that he was talking in this case about the UN Environment Agency's annual report |
| 0:31.7 | into how we're all doing in the effort to reduce |
| 0:34.3 | greenhouse gas emissions. It's sober conclusion catastrophic at least if we carry on with |
| 0:40.9 | our current efforts which leave us en route for an increasing |
| 0:44.0 | global temperatures not within the target of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels but 3.1 |
| 0:50.8 | degrees. We'll pick apart the figures and also try to explore how and why we shouldn't be |
| 0:55.4 | despondent. Let's begin though with the figures with our environment correspondent, Matt McGra. |
| 1:00.9 | The Emissions Gap report has been produced for the last 15 years or so. |
| 1:05.0 | What it's been looking at is the amount of carbon produced in 2023 and seeing a significant |
| 1:11.0 | increase. Now 1.3% might sound like a huge increase but it's much |
| 1:14.9 | bigger than the preceding decades average annual increase and what was driving it up |
| 1:20.0 | in 2023 was the rebound from the COVID pandemic, more flying, more people driving, a range of industries |
| 1:26.4 | kick-starting again. So we've had quite a surge of CO2 if you like and the scientists behind this are saying if this continues if we don't |
| 1:36.4 | rain it in we are in significant trouble and more trouble than perhaps we've thought and |
| 1:41.2 | temperatures will respond in the natural way and rise very quickly, very high. |
| 1:47.0 | As you say, 1.3% may not sound like a huge amount, but given that we're supposed to be cutting our greenhouse gas emissions |
| 1:54.6 | it's going to only make reaching that target all the more difficult I mean |
... |
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