After a year of climate chaos, what next?

Luke Jones (0:01)

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story, I'm Luke Jones. This year, there's been a lot of weather.

SPEAKER_2 (0:12)

May temperature records have been obliterated.

SPEAKER_3 (0:15)

The Met Office has issued an Anva Extreme Heat Warning for parts of southern and eastern England and south Wales. The alert, which applies on Monday and Tuesday, warns of temperatures of up to 35 degrees.

SPEAKER_2 (0:27)

Well, it is the hottest June day ever recorded in the UK. The temperature has just hit 35.7 degrees, and a rare red warning for extreme heat is in place across much of England and Wales.

Luke Jones (0:40)

Northern Ireland had its wettest January in 149 years. 24 million of us were in drought conditions, and as of today, most of England still is.

For the entire world, August was the hottest month ever recorded. And we're not just seeing climate change's impact on our weather, it's also contributing to devastating tragedies around the world.

SPEAKER_4 (1:03)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is to visit the site of deadly wildfires in the south of the country. At least 13 people have died in the fires in Andalucia.

SPEAKER_5 (1:12)

Nepal's foreign minister is calling for a global effort to tackle climate change, saying his country is among the worst hit by rising temperatures. More than 2,400 people are still missing. At least 675 have died following Wednesday's catastrophic flash flooding caused by a collapsing glacier.

SPEAKER_6 (1:31)

August brought super typhoon Dolphin, which churned across the Pacific for 16 days, before slamming into eastern China, triggering heavy floods and dozens of casualties.

Luke Jones (1:40)

As another global climate conference, a cop looms, are we here in the UK on the right track? Why is our government pushing for more climate targets, yet also approving more gas production in the North Sea?

SPEAKER_7 (1:52)

This is the Jackdaw site. It could account for 6% of the total North Sea gas production. And it is the biggest British field that has been given new approval in a decade.

Luke Jones (2:08)

What is going to happen when we get around the table with the nearly 200 other countries in COP this week? The story today, is the UK still a climate leader?

Adam Vaughan (2:30)

I am Adam Vaughan, I am the Environment Editor at The Times.

Luke Jones (2:34)

And you are soon off on work assignment to Turkey for COP 31 Where in Turkey and is this a big one?

Adam Vaughan (2:42)

Yes, I have the grueling task of going to Antalya on the Mediterranean coast for a week and it will be really hard work.

Luke Jones (2:48)

We thank you for your service.

Adam Vaughan (2:49)

You're welcome. So it's being held there, it's sort of East meets West, Turkey really wanted to host it, Australia really wanted to host it. Turkey won and Australia has the runners up prize of helping Turkey organize it. So there's lots of Australian diplomats going out and they're sort of co-doing it.

So yeah, there's a big British continent going as well, which I'm sure we'll get into.

Luke Jones (3:15)

Are we still leading the way as we once were on these kind of things?

Adam Vaughan (3:19)

This is a lot of questions we often ask the British government and other countries.

I think broadly speaking, and I don't say this in any sort of nationalist way, I think broadly speaking, the answer is yes, actually. Like in so much as, you know, if you look at G7, you look at G20, you know, Britain has cut its emissions by more than half since 1990

A lot of that has been by transforming our energy system. And like, you know, there's a bit of cultural wars about that now. But the truth is, in the background, we have swapped out things like coal power stations and gas power stations for solar and wind farms largely. So, you know, we have made a lot of progress and we are still seen as being a sort of force for good at these talks, you know, along with people like the EU and broadly China and Australia. Obviously, the US has gone in a different direction. And we've got this interesting, like, I think, you know, it's interesting with the Brazilian election result because we had this sort of, in the last few years, this, because there's a sort of political alignment on the left with, you know, who's in charge in Brazil and here in Britain. That's been a sort of bridge between like richer and poorer countries, which is interesting. So, yeah, I think broadly speaking, yes, you know, I think obviously the recent decision domestically on Jackdaw, the gas field, you know, some environmentalists, Zach Polanski, the Green Party saying, you know, that's, you know, it suggests we can't go to this summit and be a climate leader.