“hit ‘a 25th of “mi"; n - :,_.3 had a year ago. the 25th ofjuly 2019 was the day we set the uk's new temperature record, 38.7 celsius but nothing like that today. these are the best temperatures you can expect, 19—23 and quite if few heavy downpours drifting through, some thunder and lightning mixed in this is bbc news with with dry spells in between. the the latest headlines: emphasis will be on more dry weather gyms and swimming pools reopen in england but there's a warning as we go through tonight. many up to a third may stay shut showers will fade, we keep some going up towards northern ireland and western scotland. for tomorrow, because of financial troubles. and western scotland. for tomorrow, a lot of fine weather around with for us it has all been about spells of sunshine. if you showers here and there and more persistent balancing the experience of the rain into north—west scotland. it members had prior to coming and will be quite a windy day tomorrow. prior to lockdown, and making sure those are the average wind speeds, they feel safe and secure. gusts will be stronger than that and it comes as experts warn it will feel fairly cool and fresh being overweight or obese brings a greater risk of serious illness out there with top temperatures between 17 and 23 degrees. you are or death from covid—19. all of these extra pressures and strains on the body are likely to be pa rt strains on the body are likely to be part of the reason why people when

watching bbc news. jim is answering they contract covid, if they are also overweight, have these extra chances of being really sick. polls reopen in england but there is a warning up to a third of them may further restrictions introduced in spain's catalonia region, amid fears of a second stay shut for good because of wave of the virus. financial troubles. there are fears of a second wave of the virus in catalonia. the musician wiley is being dropped by his management because of a strea m by his management because of a stream of anti—semitic comments published on his social media account. now, it is time to join zane badawi for global questions.

hello and welcome to london for this edition of global questions, with me zeinab badawi. could we have a cleaner world after covid—19? well, national lockdowns have led to reduced economic activity and affected livelihoods across the world. but, despite the pain, this has resulted in lower levels of carbon emissions and better air quality. so, many believe the time is now right for greater action on climate change. that's coronavirus — a better environment for the earth? well, i'm now inside the bbc headquarters here in central london. and to bring you this edition of global questions, as always, our two panellists and our audience who are going to be asking questions, joining us via video link. so, let me tell you who is in the hot seat this week. inger andersen is executive director of the united nations environment programme. before that she ran the international union for conservation of nature.

she has more than 30 years experience in sustainable and international development. and lily cole is the british actress, writer and climate activist. her new book, who cares wins, reasons for optimism in ourchanging world, examines different approaches to the environment crisis. welcome to you both, and to our audience. you join us from all over the world, and a solitary round of applause from me, and rememberyou, too, can join the conversation. it is #bbcglobalquestions. let's get down to our first question straightaway. we are going to just outside cairo in egypt, to amira zanoun — amira, fire away. although the proportion of pollution has been decreased, during the coronavirus pandemic, but also we witnessed a significant increase in using disposable tools such as face coverings and other things which are used in restaurants and in takeaway meals,

so how is the government limiting these and producing reusable and affordable alternatives? lily cole, a lot of people worried about all that plastic that is being used in the personal protection and all the rest of it. in the book i have a whole chapter where i look at plastic and waste specifically. there are lots of interesting things happening, especially from the technology sector, that suggest we are finding ways to build plastics and more environmentally friendly ways, like bioplastics. but also we are building waste systems that are more sensible, and there have been some really ambitious policies, maybe inger can speak more about that, from the eu, for example, and different countries around the world, banning certain types of single—use plastics and i would hope that we don't take a step backwards and we keep moving forward in terms of how we bring together the contradictions of needing single use, needing hygienic products but also

needing to think about long—term health notjust short—term health. inger, it is a race against time for so many governments trying to tackle covid—19. they need all that plastic for the coverings and so on. lives are endangered. but it is polluting the oceans. what can we do, and can we do it quickly enough? who says that about 89 million masks will be required every month, so just think about those numbers. that's plastic masks. then you add the cloth masks that are used by every other person nowadays. so, the issue here is getting the investment in for the poorer countries so that they can incinerate, and also, frankly, getting plastic out of the supply chain, and here, a big shout out to africa. africa was the first one stepping in to ban single—use plastics, single—use bags, either in kenya although now i am not in kenya, but kenya, rwanda, 3a countries have banned single—use, and more,

and you can take lessons from that because it is entirely possible. of course it is entirely possible, but is it going to happen, and quickly enough? well, right now, no, because many countries don't have incineration facilities. many small village hospitals all through the developing world don't even have this. we have this open burning, where people are breathing in these fumes, it is double, triple, quadruple bad for the soil, the people, the oceans etc. but we need to get there, and that's why investing in circularity, first of all... well, first of all, getting it out of the supply chain, to circularity, and three, obviously, waste management and separation. so, entirely possible but still a question mark i think about whether it can be achieved or not. 0k, amira in egypt, i hope that's answered your question. let us now go to brazil, to leon hendrix. your question please, leon. given the socioeconomic impact of covid—19, how much

will sustainability feature as part of the recovery? will governments be more focused on creating jobs or the environment? is it an either or situation, inger? it is both. this is not an either—or situation. there was a time when people thought that, you know, you could pollute your way to wealth, you could dispose into the environment stuff, become wealthy and then you could clean up later with the wealth that you have. some countries did, and they exported their dirt to other countries. that's no longer really possible, thankfully, exporting your garbage to other countries. so, then, what we need to do is invest in green, in opportunities, and they are very much doable. investing in green opportunities, investing in opportunities and understanding half of our gdp is actually dependent on nature, and our health,

and our well—being and happiness, all of that stuff is important. so, maybe also see that it is no longerjust people like myself and lily who say this. at the world economic forum injanuary, business leaders said that out of the top ten risks they see to future profits and future growth, five of them are environmental in nature. so, that is what we need to understand — you have to do both and that's where the opportunities lie. lily cole, are you worried that climate change agenda will be put on the back burner as people race to try to recover their economies? i'm in a strange limbo between amazing hope, possibility, optimism and nervousness and fear because i think we are in a pivotal moment where anything is possible. the fact that a policy idea

like universal basic income a year ago felt like a radical idea was being experimented with communities around the world, the fact that spain will potentially adopt that as a whole country is extraordinary. i give that as an example just to say i think there is the potential for political ambition that we haven't seen in the past, and it would be insane, given all the scientific warnings, if we didn't use this moment to mitigate against the bigger crises on the horizon, biodiversity crisis, the water crisis, the environmental climate change. if we listened to the warnings around the risks of pandemics we wouldn't have got into this situation and i agree with inger it is fundamentally financially unviable to not listen to science and not take into consideration risk management. whether that actually happens and whether the politicians in power right now make those choices,

i'm not going to pretend i know or be a prophet of, but i'm hopeful that some sense will come into guiding the decisions that we make now. leon, do you share any optimism on the question you've asked? i would hope so. there needs to be a focus on the environment and the economy and understand that post covid—19 there will be a lot of people that must go back to work and rebuilding the economy, but for me, i agree with you guys that it has got to be alongside the environment. thanks very much indeed. let's go to the capital of slovakia, bratislava and to stella. i got that right? yes, you did. do you think the pandemic will make countries more likely to adopt the european green deal, notjust in europe but around the world? thanks very much indeed, stella,

referring to the european green deal that the eu has brought about to pursue economic growth in a way that is clean and sustainable and also to create jobs — is this something that will catch fire in other parts of the world? your response, inger? i think it is and it already has. we have seen this week the approval of this massive new budget at this european level which has about 30% of that goes to climate change so in europe, it is a done deal. i think it will then slowly work and to trade and consumer demands in manufactured goods and what you and i buy off—the—shelf, and what we would want to buy in terms of its footprint, its carbon footprint, so this idea of investing in clean energy and different types of refurbishing of housing, investing in public transport, investing in greener and better

farming, and obviously climate action writ large is huge. before i come to lily, you say that it has got traction in other parts of the world. we've seen for example the french government tie its bailouts to green goals, it gave a lot of money to matter when i said you have to meet these new carbon targets. do you want to see that kind of principle applied in other parts of the world? we're not necessarily seeing that, are we? the united states, for instance. look, not every country and certainly developing countries have had to do more modest stimulus packages but even there, let me take pakistan as an example. they have this tree planting programme. they have repurposed around 100 million, into creating green jobs for planting trees. right now, this april and may.

new zealand, not a poor country, has pushed out about 3 billion that includes climate resilience etc. it is catching on and there is an understanding that in countries that have a great economy already, that have dirty manufacturing, that they need to leapfrog, and those that don't, they want to jump right over that polluting age. you're very optimistic, inger! let's see if lily cole shares that optimism. has the idea of a green deal got universal appeal, in your opinion? i think it's super exciting that it is coming this high up into the political agenda. the green new deal has been bandied around for some time with different incarnations of it, whether it is slightly to the left or to the right, and it is a fundamentally simple and important idea. if you are going to rebuild the economy ,which we need to do to stay within climate agreements and try to control the environment for the next generations, then we need to do that in a green way.

and i think the fact that that the eu are doing is super inspiring and encouraging and hopefully will set up a precedent for the rest of the world. that said, there has been criticism around whether it's ambitious enough. i co—signed a letter the week before written by four youth climate activists demanding ambitious actions from eu leaders, and i don't think it would probably meet that level of ambition but it feels like a promising, sincerely promising step in the right direction and hopefully a signal to the rest of the world. let's go back to stella who asked the question to see what she thinks. i hope you will be right, and i hope that the green deal is going to win. all right, good. she said that with a big smile. so there we go. let's go to india, and to mania kumar. mania, what do you want to ask our two panellists? my question is when the transmission

to renewable energy is slowed down or halted because of rock bottom oil prices and the need to get economies up and running after the covid—19 related shutdowns? lily cole? i think we do have choices right now. every one of us has choices to make, in terms of how this is played out. we know we need to move away from fossil fuels, we know we need to move towards renewables, because the science is very, very clear that we will run into more of these crises if we don't make those transitions. and i think that there are encouraging signs that that movement is possible, both from the political level but also from an individual level where you see decentralisation of energy, and there has been movement towards decentralisation in covid generally where people focus more on local economies, on growing

their own vegetable patch. and if you think about that when it comes to build local energy cooperatives and taking local ownership of energy, then we'd be proactive players in the move towards renewable. inger, we've seen a reduction in the demand for oil which has made prices plummet and fossil fuels, do you think this will assist the transition to renewable energy? i was too optimistic so i am afraid to continue but yes i do, and here is the reason why. who invests in these? right now, it's rock bottom, yes, but bp has had to do a massive downward evaluation of their company assets, when they look into the future — why is that? because they know that the days are coming for the end of hydrocarbons. and when we look at institutional investors, those who help us get a pension, they are beginning to disinvest in hydrocarbon, in oil and coal — why? because if you are 22 today and you begin to take out a pension scheme, you want to be able to draw

that when you're 80, and maybe that's not where you will have a profit at that time. so we have seen market shift, about $5 trillion of pension money has moved out of hydrocarbons. and we have seen, for example, fracking is down by one third, the fracking industry in north america. so, there are some movements. obviously, part of that is to do with what we are seeing in the lack of demand, back another thing is consumer choices and market futures, so, yes, i remain optimistic. you do. i'm going to have to puncture that optimism a little bit to say that a lot of the people who contacted us on social media say actually, you know, there's not going to be that much of a difference, in their opinion. there seems to be more scepticism that, you know, what's gone on, the plummeting carbon emissions we have seen during the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns is going to be permanent. every nation is going

in a different direction, so it depends on what nations do, and so i think there's more scepticism, although there seems to be an acknowledgement that air travel is going to remain depressed. let's go to our next question, now. david scott in new york, new york. david, your question, please. why is climate change so white? why does it appear that the voices of indigenous people and people of colour are always relegated to the margins? lily cole, is it all a bit too western centric? it's a really important question, thank you. actually, climate change is not white. there have been people for hundreds of years trying

to protect their water, their land, indigenous communities and those are not seen as environmental activists but i have been at the forefront of environmental activism and there are still many today. there is a different question. you could say that the communities first being heavily impacted by climate change are often developing world countries, people of colour, etc, marginalised communities around the world. now, why does climate change appear as a white campaign? is it slightly different question which i think takes us to the media and takes us to our own biases in society, which covid has been showing up. why do we celebrate white activists? why do we focus on white activists, over and above the voices of other activists that do exist and have existed? that is an important question to ask. i think the last few months,

as we have seen with a different protest movements, are making maybe more awareness of how intersected these different issues are, intersected with issues of social justice, the environment and history of racial injustice, and so, we hope that that narrative will evolve. inger, david scott asks why climate change is so white? the answer that lily gave is right, there's a degree of white privilege to asking these questions that i want to own. but i also want to say this — in africa, and this is building on this question, climate change is very much a real issue to the folks who live there. and nelson mandela was one of the first, together with ellenjohnson sirleaf, who was the president of liberia, the first female president, and others, to actually talk about climate justice, and they found it something called the elders. about climate justice,

and they founded something called the elders. together with jimmy carter and others, they focused on climate justice and environmentaljustice and there, professor volla rd, a well—known african—american scholar, often considered the father of environmentaljustice, is precisely spot on. this has been his issue that it is these who are most marginalised are likely to have the least voice you are getting hit the hardest, and that's the thing with climate change. it is also the thing with pollution, and it's also the thing with dirty water and it's also the thing with etc etc, so we have to hear all of these voices, and ensure that they come through mainstream media. but i will say where i live, climate change, the politicians in kenya are deeply concerned about this, placing this as a high priority because they are seeing locusts and rainfall etc changing and the circumstances, and they become the victim of other people's emissions and therefore speak out on change. our final question is from

india and akash choudry. does the way that humans around the world have joined hands to try and find a solution to the pandemic make you optimistic enough to believe that we are in for a radical change in the way that we relate to the environment once the pandemic is over. or do you think that human civilisation will go back to being indifferent towards the natural world the way it was before all of this really started? inger andersson, is this going to bring about change or is it going to be back to business as usual? there will be those who will deny what has happened and will want to flip back to what it was prior, and others who will see and understand the science behind what has happened and seek to move beyond. what i found remarkable about this is that people listened to the science.

it wasn't about fake science, it was the science. you need to stay at home, you need to wash your hands. we saw that the three major religions essentially did not celebrate the way they normally do easter, ramadan and eid as well as thejewish holy days. so, there was an understanding that science was speaking. on climate change, inger, do you think people are going to say, we have seen cleaner air, we are connecting with nature, wildlife is re—emerging, we want to keep it that way and hang onto the gains? people saw how easily nature forgives us our trespasses. you give nature half of a break and it will bounce back, the air will clean up. i think that was miraculous to many who thought they would never see the clarity of vision that they saw in india or beijing etc. i hope that they will take that knowledge with them

into their workplaces, into the discussion places, into the voting booths, over the dinner table, to have these discussions about flicking that green switch and insisting that the only way that we can get sustainable futures for the next generation and the generation thereafter is to invest in a green future, and if we don't, then we can think about covid as an overture for what is to come because if we think covid was bad, we don't even want to begin to anticipate climate change. so, i hope this is the way that we will go, and the majority of people, there will always be those who go in the other direction but the majority of nations and the majority of people will take that turn and go for sustainable and green. lily cole. so, in the introduction to my book which i wrote before the crisis, i use this metaphor of how two football teams in the uk for example, arsenal and chelsea

might be completely against each other, their fans might be antagonistic to each other and when england another country like france, those same fans willjoin together and stand side by side to try and beat the new enemy. it's a metaphor for, what is the enemy that we need, in order to come together as a global community? and i was talking about it in terms of the climate crisis, which does impact every single human being living on this planet regardless of their situation, and hoping that that might be an enemy that we would band together to work against. and i think covid has been that enemy, and it has been extraordinary to see how the global community and also local communities have worked together and how much kindness and solidarity and cooperation has emerged in response to crisis. whether we take that metaphor and apply it immediately, which would be my hope, is questionable, but the reality is that we cannot avoid the crisis.

we cannot avoid it. the science is very, very clear. the question is, do you want to come together as a global community to try to mitigate the risks now or do we want to wait until later down the line and give the crisis at that point? and, hopefully, at that point, we will still be community spirited and cooperative but it will be harder to manage it. the very fact that these international agreements exist, the fact that paris was signed, they do show that international cooperation is happening. that is not to say that everything is going in the right direction, there is not enough ambition, certain players are not acting in the way we would want or help them to be, but we can pat ourselves on the back and recognise we have built an international diplomacy framework that is trying to solve this crisis and work together. lily cole and inger anderson, thank you very much indeed, and also to my questioners. that's all from this edition of global questions, coronavirus — a different environment

for the earth? i think we've brought you some thoughts on the unexpected positive benefits of the terrible covid crisis for our planet. remember we are the programme that brings you the trend lines behind the headlines. thank you to you wherever you are watching or listening. if you want to be part of the programme, submit a question to the panel, you can e—mail us at... until next time, from me, zeinab badawi, and the rest of the global questions team, goodbye. the 25th ofjuly 2019 was the day

when we set the uk's temperature new record. but nothing like that today. these are the best temperatures you can expect. quite if few heavy downpours drifting through, some thunder and lightning mixed in with some dry, dry spells in between. the emphasis will be a few heavy downpours drifting through, some thunder and lightning mixed in with some dry, dry spells in between. the emphasis will be on my dry weather as big tonight, many of the showers scotland. for tomorrow, a lot of fine weather around with some spells of sunshine, if you showers here and there aren't more persistent rain in all the rest —— north—west scotland. windy tomorrow, does stronger than that, and it will feel fairly cool and fresh out there with top 00:28:48,288 --> 2147483051:51:09,569 temperatures between 17 and 23 2147483051:51:09,569 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 degrees.