Case study, 002

The Climate
Question

Producing hundreds of episodes of BBC World Service's flagship climate podcast, from guest research and recording to video production, COP26, and content reaching nearly one million views.

BBC World Service
RoleProducer
FormatPodcast + video + social
ScopeGuest booking, research, recording, editing, video, publishing
CoverageCOP26 (Glasgow) + COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh)
DistributionBBC World Service, global
100+Episodes produced
~1MViews, one visual episode
COP26 + 27On the ground coverage
GlobalBBC World Service reach
The brief

The BBC's flagship climate show

The Climate Question was the BBC World Service's dedicated climate podcast, built to answer the biggest questions about the climate crisis in a way that was accessible, optimistic where the evidence allowed, and rigorous throughout. As producer, the job was to make every episode land with the authority of the BBC and the clarity of great journalism.

What I did

End to end, every episode

01

Finding and booking guests

Every episode started with identifying the right voice for the question. That meant reading the science, finding the researchers, advocates, or practitioners who could speak to it with authority, and persuading them the show was worth their time.

02

Research and briefing

Before any recording, guests were briefed thoroughly so the conversation could go somewhere interesting. That required digging into their work, understanding the evidence, and shaping the questions to draw out the clearest, most useful answers.

03

Setting up recordings

Coordinating recordings across time zones, platforms and technical setups, ensuring broadcast-quality audio from guests who were often not in a studio environment.

04

Editing the episode

Shaping hours of conversation into a focused, well-paced episode, cutting for clarity and impact while preserving the authenticity of the exchange. Every episode was built to the BBC's broadcast standard.

05

Video and social production

Producing video versions of episodes for YouTube and social media, including visual audio formats that made the content accessible beyond the podcast audience. One visual episode reached nearly one million views.

06

COP26 and COP27

On the ground in Glasgow and Sharm el-Sheikh, producing special episodes and content from the UN climate summits, reporting from inside the negotiations and from the events around them.

The work

Selected episodes and videos

Visual audio episode, nearly 1 million views

A visual audio format produced for YouTube, reaching nearly one million views.

Glaciers episode, video version

Video produced for the glaciers episode. Listen on BBC →

Episode video, thousands of views

Produced, edited and published on BBC World Service.

Recognition

Coverage and reception

European Union

"Exploratory, analytical and optimistic when appropriate." The Climate Question was praised by the European Union for its approach to communicating climate science.

RNZ / Morning Report

Darin spoke on New Zealand national radio during COP26, discussing the conference and the show's coverage of the climate negotiations from inside Glasgow.

Listen to the interview →
What listeners said

The audience response

An amazing podcast about climate change. They cover a wide range of topics, and do so without jargon, in a way that is accessible to all.
Apple Podcasts listener

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