hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... borisjohnson warns the eu, that french threats over post—brexit fishing licences, are "completely unjustified". we are going to get on and do the things that matter to both of us, and make sure we work together on tackling the big issues that face the world. there's some turbulence in the relationship. france's emmanuel macron, says the row over fishing raises questions, about britain's reliability. the two leaders will discuss the dispute at the 620 in rome tomorrow. lawyers for prince andrew claim the woman who's accused him of sexual assault is out for �*another payday�*, as they ask a new york court to dismiss the case against him. a group of people from the lgbt

community in afghanistan arrive in the uk after fleeing from the taliban. one gay man tells the bbc that he finally �*feels free�*. sportsday will be coming up shortly. . . before that, though it's climate change: countdown to cop26. hello, i�*m david shukman. bbc bbc�*s science editor. this is climate change: countdown to cop26, a series of programmes from around the world as leaders prepare to gather in glasgow there will be something like 25,000 people there from nearly 200 countries, and the stakes

could hardly be higher. can the world agree to put itself on a zero carbon pathway and avoid the most dangerous temperature rises in future? i�*ve been covering climate change for much of my career, and the stats are pretty scary. in the nearly a0 years that i�*ve been at the bbc — can�*t quite believe ijust said that — global carbon dioxide levels have shot up 20%, weather—related disasters have tripled, and arctic summer ice has declined dramatically. i�*ve seen that for myself, and in fact i�*ve been looking back at how the science of climate change has evolved and also how the fossil fuel industry has been thriving. more than a century ago, scientists first started warning that we�*re heading for trouble. the more we burn fossil fuels, the more heat�*s trapped in the atmosphere. and despite knowing all of this, we are still living in ways that put

us on course for dangerously high temperatures. over the years, i�*ve filmed at the heart of the fossil fuel industry. this coal mine is in poland. when the business is digging up carbon, it�*s like visiting a different planet. nobody seems to care about climate change. even shifts in the rock do not trouble the miners. this is a way of life and a mainstay of the economy. coal is the dirtiest fuel, but there is still demand for it. this is the reality of life for thousands of miners in poland, and because the coal mining industry is so important to the economy here, it looks set to last for decades — whatever climate scientists and environmental activists want to see happen.

oil is also driving up global temperatures and it�*s also burning. —— are booming. global demand keeps rising. the company running these pumps in california refused to let us in, so we took to the air. this field has been producing for more than a century, and whenever anyone thinks it might run dry, somebody comes along and eitherfinds more oil or comes up with a new way of getting more out of it. and if oil is in your blood, you�*re not going to like global warming. in fact, the oil industry knew about the risks from its own research, but deliberately created doubt. when i visited this well in texas 12 years ago, the owner used a classic line from climate deniers, that any change is natural. the question is, how much difference

does c02 really make in our atmosphere? and that should be debated. there are a lot of climate drivers. you can see the sun shining on my face right now. the sun is obviously one of the biggest climate drivers, it goes through many cycles. that view, that climate change is perfectly natural, that fossil fuels have nothing to do with it, has been very strongly held and it has led to some pretty vicious attacks on scientists and onjournalists like me. i felt pretty exposed at times, accused of being a lobbyist for green industries, of being a hypocrite for using fossilfuels. but i also watched how the research has evolved, how scientists have more confidence as they have gained new knowledge to answer their critics. but it�*s been quite a job to get to that point. understanding how the world is changing is a complicated challenge. for me, it began with a descent into antarctica.

i�*m climbing down into a crevasse, and it�*s by getting down into the ice and drilling into it that scientists are able to build up a picture of the greenhouse gases that have been building up in our atmosphere. they find bubbles like this, trapped in the ice, and analyse the air inside them. the ice holds a record of the climate, trapping carbon dioxide year after year, so we can see how it has risen and fallen. at the next step is working out our role in that — the human fingerprint on global warming — and that involves more recent data. getting to it took a long journey to hawaii, and up an old volcano. at the summit lies a forest of instruments. one of them has measured carbon dioxide since 1958, by coincidence, that�*s the year i was born.

so during my lifetime, levels of this key gas have just kept on rising. the most striking thing that i see on c02 since 1958 is that the concentration in the atmosphere has gone up every single year. so where would this leave us? the early computer models couldn�*t be sure. there were lots of uncertainties. but the scenarios were already looking scary. there have been record temperatures in europe. 48 degrees in sicily. and to avoid the worst damage, the european union has now pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050. it has been under pressure to act because it is the world�*s third—biggest emitter, after china and america. but as our europe editor katya adler now reports, the eu is finding it quite a challenge to meet its own goal. the eu.

it�*s the globe�*s third—largest economy, and also the third—largest emitter of c02 gases worldwide. but it has a plan to change that. the european commission�*s green new deal — this is its promotion video — wants the eu to be carbon neutral by 2050. even though the finish line is 30 years away, the race starts now. targeting all the sectors of the economy and trade, it�*s an ambitious world first, but there�*s actually no enforceable road map in place. so in the end, is the green new deal the big deal the european commission would have us believe? there are a lot of issues with the green deal, but maybe the main ones are that the targets are not binding and they are not enforceable and it has been green washed and watered down by the fossil fuel industry and their lobbying. the eu denies that, but lobbyists are familiar faces in the corridors of brussels, their activities listed

in the eu�*s transparency register. using a mixture of money and meetings, subsidies and sponsorships, five oil and gas corporations and their lobby groups are estimated to have spent over a quarter of a billion euros targeting eu decision—makers over the last decade. as for eu member states, the aim is to go green now, but the transition is proving tricky, for some more than others. big, influential germany still burns a lot of coal. this plant helps heat berlin. here, like across germany and the rest of the eu, there are plans under way to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. but all too often, political realities clash with environmental goals, and the climate can is often kicked just that much further down the road. germany is by far the biggest

emitter of c02 in europe. we would have been earlier in our climate action, but now it is a priority. but relations between fossil fuel groups, industry and mps here are often described as too cosy. there is this conflict of interest with lawmakers with second jobs in big polluting industries, there is the fact that a lot of the gdp of this country comes from big polluting industries. there�*s always the intent of big industries, but go out and asked them what they think, for example, about me, and you will see that at least in this building, there is no conflict of interest. as politicians now talk about green deal details, on the streets of europe there is a rising sense of fear that the time for talk is over. their future is slipping away. that was katya adler reporting. now, from europe to africa,

and alongside energy is a big question in climate change, food security is also a huge concern. extremes of weather, including droughts and floods, can put supplies of food at risk. but as well as the threat, there may also be opportunities, as ourjournalist reports from benin in west africa. this market is the largest in west africa. shops here are filled with imported goods from europe, russia and asia. in 2019, benin registered $2.9 billion us of imported products, according to the world trade organisation. the country especially heavily depends on imports of rice and animal products. both fish and meat come from china, the netherlands and sometimes senegal. it would be difficult to get a year long supply here with local products. localfish, for example, come seasonally and is not enough

to satisfy the population. but benin has the potential to ensure food self—sufficiency. the country has 70,500 square kilometres of arable land, according to the un�*s food and agriculture organisation. this project was set up in 1985, not long after the devastating famine in ethiopia, when its founder wanted to ensure such a disaster was never suffered by the continent again. he wanted to teach africans how to feed themselves and not rely on foreign aid. we have agriculture, crop rotation, animals and fish. the waste from one section is recycled to become important in another one. the animals which are recycled through bacteria to fertilise our soil. nothing is wasted. his project has been modelled in other african countries, including nigeria, liberia and uganda. but it�*s up against an entrenched

system of food importation. translation: a so-called green i economy will only be possible if 70% of the african populations who live in the rural world are able to develop practical activities to achieve their food self—sufficiency, and sell the surplus of the food production to other countries. this is the only way to achieve food self—sufficiency in africa. but what projects like this show is that it�*s possible for africa to reduce its reliance on food imports, and as the world battles climate change, that seems more critical than ever. well, that�*s it for countdown to cop 26 for now. next week, christian fraser will be reporting from the conference itself in glasgow. for more in—depth coverage, check out the climate page on the bbc news website. i�*m david shukman. thanks for watching.

welcome. rashford gives a reprieve, scoring manchester united�*s third, taking the pressure of his managerfor manchester united�*s third, taking the pressure of his manager for now. a thrashing for wales at the principality as the all blacks run riot in the autumn internationals. and england�*s critic is our cruising to a compensable victory against australia at the t20 world cup. —— cricketers are cruising to a comprehensive victory. some breathing space for manchester united manager 0le gunnar solskjaer

whose side had beaten tottenham 3—0. pressure has been building all week after a humiliating 5—0 loss to liverpool but things haven�*t been going nuno espirito santo�*s way either. the tottenham boss has watched his side fell to eighth in the table and fans are getting restless with many leaving the stadium early today. jim lumsden has this report. a thrashing by liverpool had inched him nearer to the exit, a similar handling could propel them towards it. choppy numbers for his opposite number. cristian ramirez thought he had given tottenham the lead, offside was the decision. both teams were probably working under a similar management mantra, try how to make it work. cristiano ronaldo was facing going five games without a goal, so it was only a matter of time before his league spell came to an end. he had another