The BBC has today announced extensive coverage plans for the UN’s upcoming climate change conference in Glasgow, bringing audiences to the heart of November’s summit with special programming, news and digital coverage.
Under the banner of Our Planet Now, the BBC will bring together its UK and global services to deliver unrivalled and comprehensive coverage of COP26, as well as a wide range of programming throughout the autumn and winter exploring, in depth, the topics of environmental sustainability and the world’s changing climate.
BBC World News
Reporting and analysis of the COP26 Conference will be led by the BBC’s first ever Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, and Science Editor, David Shukman, with BBC News correspondents such as West Africa Correspondent Mayeni Jones, South Asia Correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan, and Australia Correspondent Shaimaa Khalil reporting from around the world, assessing how initiatives might be received in those countries which are most vulnerable to climate change, and those economies who rely on polluting industries.
BBC World News will also broadcast Life at 50°C, a four-part series presenting the reality of climate change through stories of people around the world, exploring how communities living in cities and rural areas have had to adapt their lives to cope with extreme heat. Featuring stories from Nigeria, Pakistan, Australia, Mexico, India, Mauritania, Iraq and the Gulf states, there will also be a collection of ambitious digital films on the BBC News YouTube channel.
In addition to the Life at 50°C series, BBC World News will also broadcast Countdown to COP 26. Each of the nine sixteen-minute programmes will feature BBC correspondents from around the world who will be helping viewers make sense of the challenges facing our planet. From primers on the big issues, to the latest technological solutions, Countdown to COP 26 will explore what climate change means for your region.
BBC World News’ flagship technology show, Click LIVE at COP26, will come from Glasgow in the first week of the COP conference, and dissects the roles innovation and technology can play in helping solve the world’s biggest problems. From advancements in artificial intelligence, to robotics, to agtech, this special immersive production examines novel solutions tailored towards a carbon-negative tomorrow. Bursting with physical demonstrations and world first wonders, the show - recorded in front of a live audience - will feature expert contributors to illuminate key areas for growth across the energy, transport and agriculture industries, and shine a sustainable spotlight on the work major players in the technology sector are doing to address our climate emergency.
BBC World News and BBC World Service will also host an ambitious, high-level Global Climate Debate on Monday 1 November, the opening day of the climate summit. Four leading global political figures will come together to take questions from young people in the studio and around the world on the challenges presented by climate change, and the hopes for global solutions to be achieved at the COP climate change meeting. This hour long programme will give young people around the world the chance to put their questions directly to high-profile decision-makers and hold their leaders to account on action for climate change.
Other programmes on BBC World News include: Climate Change On Trial, a half-hour documentary, presented by Nick Beake, who travels to Norway to meet the young people taking on their government in an attempt to prevent further drilling for oil and gas; and Reporting From The Climate Frontlines, where the BBC’s Science Editor, David Shukman, who has been witness on the frontline of global warming, explores how we got here and what it means for the future.
BBC.com
Online, audiences can visit the BBC’s dedicated climate change feature site, BBC Future Planet for special content ahead of COP26. Aiming to be as close to zero carbon as possible itself, BBC Future Planet offers audiences immersive, solutions-based content, including Carbon Cost, a special series sponsored by Scottish Development International available from mid-October.
The series offers readers a deep-dive into some of the most pressing issues to be negotiated at COP26 – from carbon markets to climate finance for the developing world. The series will ask how these interventions could work to curb climate change, and whether they are enough to keep the world on track for the 1.5C target outlined in the Paris Agreement.
BBC Future will host a special climate change series, Towards Net Zero. Almost six years on from the initiation of the Paris Agreement, Towards Net Zero will look at how countries are doing on their climate pledges. The series will analyse nine key nations around the world to measure how their promises have played out, and what lessons there are to be learned from both climate leaders and those lagging behind.
BBC News online will also cover COP live throughout, bringing you into the summit with expert insights from our climate team, and taking you to the frontlines of climate change with our correspondents around the world on a dedicated live page.
BBC World Service
On the eve of COP26, the BBC’s 45 local and nations radio services across the UK will join forces with BBC World Service for a global Climate Voices Festival, capturing the thoughts and feelings of 5-24 year olds and finding out what their hopes and fears are about the direction that our climate and the world could take.
In October, World Questions is looking ahead to COP26 with a panel and questioners from the Southern Hemisphere, and in November it will feature another panel from around the world who will assess the success of COP26.
Other BBC Climate Change Content
The Green Planet, the BBC Natural History Unit’s latest six-part series presented by Sir David Attenborough, which will have its global premiere at the COP26’s iMax cinema on the eve of the conference and is set to broadcast globally throughout 2022.
The series employs pioneering filmmaking technologies and showcases over two decades of new scientific discoveries to create the first immersive portrayal of an unseen, inter-connected world that plays a central role in the health and wellbeing of our planet.
Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, says: “This summit will be a hugely significant moment in the global response to climate change. The BBC’s ambitious plans will engage all audiences through the key moments, issues and debates.”
Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer, says: “November’s conference provides an opportunity for the BBC to take our commitment to exploring the environment and the challenges facing our planet to the next level.
“With the UK hosting the summit, the range of content and the breadth of platforms the BBC can provide means we’re able to illuminate the debate like never before – and help audiences, at home and around the world, understand what’s at stake, the potential for solutions, and how they too can make a difference.”
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Notes to editor
Our Planet Now
Our Planet Now is the BBC’s ongoing commitment to programming which explicitly explores the environment and the challenges facing the natural world. Further information can be found on the BBC’s dedicated Our Planet Now website .
Sustainability at the BBC
In addition to programming and as part of its ongoing efforts to be more sustainable and reduce its environmental impact, at the start of the year the BBC announced plans to reach a target of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions for its direct operations by 2030. The BBC will ensure its emissions targets for 2030 are officially validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative. Further details will be announced in due course.
The BBC also continues to play an active and prominent role in
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