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The Climate Question: Is destroying the planet a vote winner?

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06/06/2022 GMT

Is destroying the planet a vote winner?

BBC World Service - The Climate Question, Is destroying the planet a vote winner?

Can anti-climate change rhetoric continue to bring victory to politicians?

As numerous countries head to the polls this year, we ask whether anti-climate rhetoric is an election winning tactic.

Long term climate policy has long been at odds with short-term politics. As numerous countries head to the polls this year, we visit Brazil, Australia and the United States and see how climate policy is being used as a political tool to divide voters. 

During recent the elections in Australia – a country with some of the world’s highest emissions per capita – experts believe that experiencing the effects of climate change first hand brought the need for action up the agenda, leading to the unseating of the climate sceptic Liberal National Coalition. We hear from a follower of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who believes that the country’s own deforestation figures are fake. Meanwhile, in the US, we look at how the Republican party’s position changed from the 2008 presidential elections from proposing climate policies to denying that man-made climate change is real.

Kate Lamble and Neal Razzell are joined by:
Kate Walton, political journalist based in Canberra, Australia 
Kathy Hochstetler, Professor of International Development at the London School of Economics, UK 
Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of the Program for Climate Change Communication at Yale University, USA

Reporter: Roberta Fortuna 
Researcher: Immie Rhodes 
Producer: Dearbhail Starr 
Series Producer: Alex Lewis 
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound Mixer: Tom Brignell

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Is destroying the planet a vote winner?

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