Climate Watch

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway, with a record 48 teams competing across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. As the tournament grows bigger, so does its climate footprint. Will this year's tournament be the most polluting in FIFA history? Where do the emissions come from? And does the game's continued expansion go against its climate goals? Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Tim Walters, a professor at Okanagan College in British Columbia, Canada.

“China’s Green Code: Rewriting the Rules of Growth” is a four-part special series exploring China’s drive toward greener development across energy, industry, agriculture, and everyday life.

In this episode, we travel to Anqiu in eastern China—one of the country’s leading vegetable-producing regions, to see how farming is being reimagined.

We visit farms where agricultural waste becomes a valuable resource (1’55”). We meet growers embracing new technology to produce more with fewer inputs (12’15”). And we hear from young graduates who have traded city life for the countryside in search of new opportunities (23’35”). Together, their stories reveal how the future of farming may depend not only on new technologies, but on a new generation of people willing to rethink the land itself.

A deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has captured headlines over the past few weeks. Beyond the immediate public health crisis, scientists are looking at the climate factors that may be driving the spread of this rodent-borne disease into new areas. Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Dr. Kirk Douglas, Director of the Center for Biosecurity Studies at The University of the West Indies, Barbados.

“China’s Green Code: Rewriting the Rules of Growth” is a four-part special series exploring China’s drive toward greener development across energy, industry, agriculture, and everyday life.

In this episode, we head to Chongqing, one of China's industrial heartlands, to see how it's reinventing itself for a lower-carbon future.

We'll visit a cement plant replacing coal with waste-derived fuel (2'50"), step inside an AI-powered auto factory (17'25"), and explore how logistics hubs and industrial parks are reducing their environmental footprint (25'50"). Together, these stories show how one of China's industrial heartlands is reinventing itself for a lower-carbon future.

Scientists are increasingly worried about the potential collapse of a key Atlantic ocean current. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AMOC, helps regulate global climate by transporting vast amounts of heat across the oceans and shaping weather patterns worldwide. Is AMOC approaching a tipping point? Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Paul Beckwith, a climate system scientist based in Ottawa and a popular content creator on YouTube.

“China’s Green Code: Rewriting the Rules of Growth” is a four-part special series exploring China’s drive toward greener development across energy, industry, agriculture, and everyday life.

In this episode, we travel to Changzhou, where the transition to cleaner energy is reshaping the way power is produced, stored, and managed.

We explore both the promise and the challenges of renewable energy (1'46"), visit a massive salt cavern energy storage facility (12'29"), take a closer look at a virtual power plant linking different energy resources (17'25"), and examine the changing role of coal-fired power plants (20'30"). Together, these stories paint a picture of how one Chinese city is navigating the realities of the energy transition.

China is building a new generation of greener data centers in Xizang Autonomous Region. Using the region's cold climate and clean energy resources, these projects aim to reduce the carbon cost of powering AI. Can high-altitude computing reshape the climate footprint of the digital age? We talk to Zha Daojiong, Professor of International Political Economy at the School of International Studies at Peking University, and Lin Boqiang, Dean of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

The emperor penguin has been moved from "Near Threatened" to "Endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Scientists warn that the early break-up and loss of sea ice could halve their population by the 2080s. Climate change is also threatening Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals.

What exactly is happening at the bottom of the world? Why are species that have survived for thousands of years now at risk? And as scientists and policymakers meet in Hiroshima for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, what action will follow? Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Zhang Yimo, Priority Project Coordinator of WWF China's Sustainable Blue Economy Program.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. When burned as fuel, it produces water instead of carbon dioxide, making it a potentially low-carbon energy option. Interest in hydrogen is growing as countries explore its role in decarbonizing heavy industry, transport, and energy storage.

Can hydrogen help power a green future? Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Ji Guozhao, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering at Dalian University of Technology, and Joe da Costa, Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland.

China and the EU are accelerating their clean energy transitions. Does this moment bring them closer, or drive them further into competition? Climate Watch host Zhao Ying speaks with Arvea Marieni, senior advisor to the World Green Design Organization and European Climate Pact Ambassador, and Zhang Jian, vice dean of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University.