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have we entered the age of global boiling this month is set to be the hottest ever on record with heat waves and wildfires racing across the northern hemisphere scientists agree it is linked to our use
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of fossil fuels and carbon emissions the UN is again calling for radical action but is it too late I'm andreasenke in today's newsmaker is global boiling
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[Music] thank you U.S President Joe Biden has described the current temperatures as an
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existential threat with a significant part of the world now engulfed in severe heat waves U.N Chief Antonio guterres says we shouldn't be surprised scientists had been predicting this and
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warned us repeatedly about what was to come across North Africa southern Europe China and the US people are dying from extreme weather with hundreds of cities on Red Alert governments are asking how
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they'll manage going forward let's take a look knocked out for vast parts of North America Asia Africa and Europe It's a cruel summer for the entire planet it is a disaster
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[Music] versus [Music] um destroy all the islands burn all the islands it doesn't stop this is the
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bathroom it doesn't stop there is no end [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]
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[Music] [Music] climate change is here it is terrifying and it is just the beginning
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[Music] the human induced climate change is influencing a-12 events in terms of intensity and the frequency of occurrence
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[Music] something like 40 percent of the planet is seeing a marine Heat Wave right now that's very serious for the animals that
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live in the ocean office [Music] now if you follow climate change you'll remember that just over a year ago both
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the North and South Pole experienced record-breaking heat waves yet here we are just over a year later and we're talking about more records being broken so joining me now to discuss all the
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angles to this unprecedented Heats are from Perth Australia Peter Newman he's the coordinating lead author for the un's ipcc on transport he's also a professor of sustainability at Curtin
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University Jennifer Newell joins us from Glasgow she's a climate scientist and Outreach lead at the climate majority project and Fahad Saeed is a scientific model and data manager as well as a
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regional climate scientist at climate Analytics he joins us from Islamabad Pakistan thanks all so much for being with us uh you know Peter you spoke with me just over a year ago when we saw those
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records broken at both the North and South Pole we know we've been warned scientists had said that most recently this was actually worse than they had predicted
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are you on that same page is this really worse or do you think we had been warned and this is what you were expecting well like most human beings you hope
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that some of the data is not quite as bad as you've have seen it and it is the reality is the the
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existential experience of massive Heat of intensive heat waves really does affect you and seeing all of those these
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images that you've shown us there it it it's very disturbing to see and uh so the gut-wrenching side of this data has hit home for me as it did in our
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Australian bushfires uh four years ago which uh um the rest of the world looked on and in horror uh it was an existential experience for us in Australia but now Europe is getting it
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so right it's terrible well it's winter in Australia so I mean what are we in for I mean and the rest it's only July I mean we're we haven't even begun what is usually the hottest month of Summer and then Australia has another summer
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coming in just a few months time what are we in for yes well they are seeing a substantial problem in Australia looming with the El
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Nino coming and we've got we've had a lot of rainfall so there's been a lot of growth and we fear that the bushfires are going to get out of control very quickly uh so one disaster after the
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other it builds on it itself and we we just have to get to terms with the fact that climate change is happening faster and faster and well we did predict that
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but it's now a real yeah Jennifer we have to come to terms with it but what do we do a good question um and I just want to add to what Peter
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said there that what we're talking about are extreme weather events um and that these are just going to continue to be the norm um I think one of the first things that we need to do is
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um accept and acknowledge the reality that we now face and that we have not done enough to avert the worst of the climate catastrophes and and unless we
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choose collectively to take real action um then then this is going to become the norm in fact you know if we don't take real radical action collectively now then we could be looking back 10 years
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from now and being like Oh do you remember back in 2023 like that was actually such a warm year um that's the reality that we we genuinely face um if we if we don't choose to take
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Collective um action uh immediately but you let me turn to Islamabad Fahad you know we talk about yeah taking this Collective action the UN says it has to
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be radical because we're at a the point of no return almost um but then we look at the only kind of immediate answer right now for these heat waves we're facing is the massive
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use for example of air conditioning for those who can afford it um that alone can undo correct me if I'm wrong any progress we may have made to
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try and cut our carbon emissions and then we also have you know a country like China has had a massive spike in electricity that they need to to combat the heat via air conditioning and
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cooling systems they're still using coal they meanwhile argue hey per capita we still pollute less than the United States first of all where does this leave develop in countries and how can we find
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this Cooperative solution if that's where countries stand yeah actually that's a very good and very difficult question to answer and that is what we have been witnessing in on the UNF Triple C for like uh three
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decades now uh that uh there's a lot there has been a fight between developed countries and the big economies like China uh to cut the emissions but who are the forefronts of these climate
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impacts these are the the developing countries the least developing country normally uh the the events is made to the news is that uh he gave our climate catastrophic has struck a particular uh
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you know developing country and a little bit bad with economic damages but now what we are witnessing is that the developed country or the big economies like U.S like like southern Europe like China they are they are struggling even
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they are struggling to cope with that and yeah now what what the world needs it is to cut the emissions there is a Paris
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agreement the the target of Paris agreement is 1.5 degree centigrade and currently we are 1.2 degrees Centigrade warmer than the pre-industrial moon and the ipcc The Sciences told us that if we
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want to abide by this 1.5 degree Centigrade uh limit of Paris agreement we have to cut our emissions by 50 percent by the end of this decade by 2030 almost
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50 percent so but but there is this is a huge ask and you know I cannot um answer your question because a million dollar question that a world should come together uh somebody like me sitting in a developing country with its
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economy struggling I can only hope that that put together do Collective action we need the transformation of our Energy System and especially when it comes to
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the use of air conditioner I'm among the haves I can afford the second listening right now but I feed for the street vendor out at home he cannot afford this year we had a record-breaking Heat Wave and then the
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record Bridges flooding in Pakistan both is even events this extreme these extreme events they tarnish the economy of the country altogether and those were the front lines or the poorest of the
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poorest who suffer so I'm gonna say it's a big question mark it's a big question for the developed economies for the developed countries to to take the action to bring the world together at
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one place right Jennifer go ahead you had a comment um yeah no I think absolutely what Fahad said um about what we need to do to to limit to 1.5 but I think also beyond
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that um being truthful and honest with ourselves that we we've already um missed the opportunity to keep within 1.5 and what we really need to do right now is focus on that resilience like how
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do we adapt to this these extreme weather events becoming the norm um how do we work together and support as well had quite rightly said there is a massive Injustice
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um in and not only the the contributors towards this uh towards the the global warming um but also who who suffers the most as a result and um I think it's actually a little bit
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heartbreaking that it's only really now when um when it's it's the US it's the UK it's Europe it's Australia that are realizing and that are feeling the
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impact like the the Global Science those that are least responsible for this climate emergency this existential threat to society and Humanity as a species those that are least responsible
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have been suffering um without support from those countries wealthy enough to be able to provide that um for for years now and it didn't make the headlines until it happened you know
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in in the development developed world but yeah I mean we are where we are Peter let me ask you if we obviously won't make this 1.5 we may not even make two some scientists are saying so we
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have to deal with what we're dealing with now is there an environmentally friendly and you being a professor of sustainability is there a sustainable way to adapt to what we're now going to
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have to deal with the last two years has seen some of the most incredible accelerated growth in the solutions to this crisis I don't
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disagree with Jennifer that we should say oh it's all gone now we just need to do the adaptation we are getting on top of this problem the num the amount of solar in the world in doubled in the
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last two years the amount of batteries increased five times the amount of heat pumps 10 times in two years it is accelerating beyond the predictions of
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the ipcc and Beyond the iea even so the markets are now driving this and it is certainly something that governments can help with but governments are not as
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effective at getting very quick Solutions as the market is and the market is certainly got some bad eggs in it with the oil companies the gas companies and so on still wanting to
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expand their operations that has to stop and this existential crisis is actually helping because Ordinary People are now going to look at those oil companies and say unless you stop this we are blaming
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you because we know who's doing this this is why it's changing and uh but but I certainly don't give up the we're we're on the edge of extraordinary growth in the solutions right now okay
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it's glad to hear you say that okay Jennifer go ahead quickly uh respond yeah no just to um highlight that I I wasn't saying let's just um give up it's just we need to be very realistic with
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where we're at and also realistic you are right that there has been so much um development and investment um but we also have to face the truth that we can't just turn our existing Systems Green there is a systemic issue
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here and our current like this is driven by our current systems in capitalism that rely on consumerism with roots in a violent patriarchal and Colonial history and that is simply incompatible with the
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livable future and I think we do need to acknowledge that and and factor that into all that we do going forward um and there absolutely are um you know uh routes and Pathways uh
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for for a successful livable future um and also a just future as well um so it's absolutely not um kind of saying that the whole hope is gone not at all let me turn back to to
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Fahad though because okay we can talk about adapting Technologies uh if if Peter is right those Technologies are making a lot of progress we may see them properly and wide instituted widespread
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soon but right now we're dealing with other issues that uh developing countries like Pakistan may not see there's the you know the issue of climate migration and I have to ask if there has been any
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substantial preparation for what may be to come there I mean Pakistan could be one of the worst hit hunt countries and we're seeing even the United States barely able to afford the cost of
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relocations in States like Louisiana what's to come in Florida what are developing countries supposed to do in the immediate term when it comes to the climate migration we're inevitably going to see
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we know that that the people diving on the heat waves in developing country and they are not even not even been counted towards the towards the Calamity and that's what we face during the ipcc when
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we go in the ipcc and I think Peter would agree to me that in the in the for example in the over Africa we don't have enough evidence because they are not enough studies which are uh which are
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there in the in the publicly literature so it's the same thing in Pakistan that for me migration is a big it's a big issue not only across the
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border but within the country as well so you went across the border of course the triggers there are certain triggers like economic conditions and um and the problem is um that that people don't realize that
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it is the climate change so I was uh talking with the with the farmers and they did not realize that it was the heat wave last year in 2022
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because of which the yield of wheat was compromised so they had less heat and then they were thinking of you're not changing their livelihood they were thinking of moving towards the cities and Pakistan is the fastest urbanized
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urbanizing country in in South Asia so people are moving from from rural areas to urban areas just stressing the urban areas the Civic facilities and all that so that is what we call as cascading
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effect so one extremely well extreme climate event leading to multiple events down the road so and I would totally agree with you it's a big problem big issue uh developing countries are
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struggling with and Peter you know another fascinating phenomenon I I'm still learning even though I look at this on a daily basis uh I didn't realize you know in Florida
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for example with sea temperatures hitting hot tub levels there's now Marine heat waves that's a phenomenon I'll admit my ignorance I hadn't heard of that before now killing
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fish and sea life what are the consequences of that we're only talking about you know the the consequences we're suffering on land with you know these temperatures land temperatures but there's these sea
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temperatures as well that will also affect us on dry land well everything that gets hot in the ocean ends up developing into a major
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storm a high hurricane a typhoon a cyclone whatever you want to call them that hot air rises from that ocean and that the the Gulf of Mexico for example
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uh when uh Katrina hit New Orleans that increased in temperature five degrees very quickly and that was like a sudden flood of heat had gone in there it all
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ended up in in a massive storm that hit uh New Orleans so these these things are happening uh there are atmospheric rivers that are now forming and going over whole continents that are flowing
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through we had these Northern Italy ice ice dropping out of the sky the size of a brick these are the intense and extreme things that are now happening
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and and we can expect more of them but let me just say I don't think it is entirely uh depressing to say that that the the third world and the problems of
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patriarchy and colonialism uh have to get solved before we deal with this issue um already there are massive changes happening I was in China last week
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virtually every electric uh every form of Transport is going electric the buses the two wheelers the three wheelers and they've now built the equivalent of a
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hundred coal-fired power stations uh in renewable energy they are way ahead of their targets so the opportunities are being demonstrated and the article that
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I was getting some of that data from showed how Vietnam Thailand India many developing countries are rapid adopting solar as well because it is
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cheaper and it is it does fit with the culture in terms of distributed usage in small villages in large parts of cities where they have Community oriented
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governance it is possible to make these changes quickly and I think if we have the climate grief only rather than seeing the hope that is there we we are going to create more and
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more of the problems rather than the solutions we have to have hope so optimism isn't necessary here uh but Jennifer I mean we've also heard so many complaints that the structures the legal
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structures are not in place to properly penalize those committing people like to call it ecocide um and that it what laws are there are only working on the margins if they're working at all
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do you still think there's a solution in changing laws or do we need to let that go and make more financial incentives uh for greener energy to develop the Technologies necessary
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and that's a really really great question um and I think there still is scope for for changing laws especially if governments um are uh holding to account those
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responsible so if laws are being broken um the that they are held to account where damage is done uh the account and the cost of that damage is put upon those responsible for it
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um so in that regard absolutely um yes the these laws are needed um I've worked with the Eco side campaign in part of my work and and they can see that you know just by having uh
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businesses and the the market know that they could be heavily penalized for um for for damage to the environment and people's livelihoods um through irresponsibility
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um then then that's really changing their behaviors already um so there is scope for laws and I want to respond to something that Peter said though um again like and I do I I feel agree and I want to reiterate that there
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absolutely is um hope but it can't be blind hope it needs to be um active hope and then okay yes absolutely we have these Technologies I'm sorry
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we have one minute left and I just want to give Fahad a minute for for your final thoughts yes of course that the Injustice I would like to highlight some of the indices we
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are witnessing in this world and I uh especially when it comes to climate change and the emissions but at the same time there is certainly the hope uh ICC tells us that if we don't act quickly we
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will reach 1.5 uh somewhere in the next decade but at the moment we are 1.2 degree Centigrade warmer than the pre-industrial world we have to tell ourselves that that the exchange we are witnessing
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today they are only gonna get more intense with every tenth of a degree of forming I would just like to point out that a study was done what is called climate in extreme event attribution
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study and that by using state-of-the-art data and methods and the filing of the study were that in the world without climate change in the pre-industrial world these extremes heat extreme we
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have seen in China southern Europe and U.S and Mexico would be virtually impossible would be virtually impossible so that is the footprint of climate change at the moment that will have to be the final
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word I'd like to thank all three of my panelists so much for being with us unfortunately we're out of time for this edition of the newsmakers uh thanks to our viewers of course for joining us as well remember you can follow us on Twitter and do be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel I'm Andrea Sankey
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we'll see you next time [Music] thank you
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