COP27: World faces catastrophe: BBC News Review

Rapidly transforming societies.

That's the only option left, says the UN,

after a failure to cut carbon.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about the story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video,

and try the quiz on our website.

Now, let's hear more about the story.

'Countries must reprioritize climate change or the world faces catastrophe.'

That's what the head of the UN has said ahead of COP27,

the climate conference being held in Egypt,

this month. Scientists say government failures to meet carbon targets

will lead to a rise of more than 1.5 degrees.

Only radically changing society

  will save us from climate disaster, they say.

You have been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have 'landmark', 'greenwashing'

and 'warning shots'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one is from Euronews:

So, COP27,

which is the annual international climate conference, is being described

as a landmark -that's the word

we're looking at. Right now, Beth,

first of all, I want you to think of a famous city - London.

When I mentioned London,

what comes to mind?

I think of Big Ben,

Buckingham Palace,

The London Eye, the Houses of Parliament.

OK. So, these are important memorable places.

Buildings. Literally, marks on the land - landmarks. Is that what we mean here?

Well, they are landmarks -

but, no, that's not what we're talking about here.

So, in the headline, 'landmark' is used as an adjective to mean

that something is 'so important that it might cause a dramatic change'.

OK. So, the headline is suggesting that COP27

might be a landmark conference - a point

where an important change is made. Is that right? Yeah. That's right.

And this adjective 'landmark' is often put together with words

like 'event', 'decision' or 'day'.

So, for example, if we think about when women first got the right to vote,

this was a landmark event.

It was very important for women's rights.

And can we use any other words or vocabulary to describe a similar thing?

Yeah. We could say that something is a 'turning point'

or a 'milestone', for example.

OK. Let's have a look at that one more time.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from the Guardian:

OK. So, Greta Thunberg, the very famous, young Swedish climate activist

is going to skip the COP27 Climate Conference.

That means she's not going to attend, because she thinks it's an example

of greenwashing. And 'greenwashing' is the word we're looking at.

Well, I know the word 'green', and I know the word 'washing'.

But what's the sense?

Well, imagine a company that sells something bad for the environment,

like a plastic bottle, but they cover it

with a green label that symbolises being environmentally friendly.

It might have nice pictures of forests on it,

and it has words like organic and natural ingredients

and recyclable.

OK. So, you're saying this bottle

looks like it's really good for the environment. But, actually,

it's just a plastic bottle, and plastic isn't very good.

So, we're saying it's just marketing.

Exactly. Yeah. This is greenwashing, and it is just a marketing approach

that basically makes it look like an organisation is helping the planet,

and that makes the customer want to buy the product - they want to help the planet

too. But, actually,

it's not really helping at all.

Right, so, in this headline,

we see that Greta

Thunberg thinks that COP27

is an example of greenwashing.

She thinks that, actually,

they are not taking it seriously.

They just want people to think they are.

Yeah. That's right.

And the headline uses the adjective 'greenwashing'.

It describes the event, in this case, the conference,

but we can also use greenwash as a verb.

So, that is the action of making something look more environmentally

friendly than it actually is.

And a related idea

and word is 'sportswashing'.

That means when an organisation or a country hosts

or supports a sporting event to try and make themselves look better.

Let's take a look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This one comes from Inside Climate News:

The headline says that the world is off course.

That means 'going in the wrong direction', metaphorically, to reach

those climate targets. And we are looking at the expression

'warning shots'.

This has got something to do with guns, hasn't it?

Yeah. So, literally, in war,

one side might fire a shot in the air or it might come from a cannon,

and this is saying we are here -

prepare yourself. It is a warning.

But, in the headline,

it's used metaphorically -

there's actually no guns here.

That's right. So, these new scientific reports say that unless we stay

within 1.5 degree limit,

something really bad is going to happen.

Exactly. It is a warning shot to the world.

And, in this case, that bad thing that would happen is

the climate would collapse.

Now, the expression 'warning shot' is used very frequently

in news media, isn't it?

Yes, it is. It sounds very dramatic, and it creates a really powerful image

in the mind of the reader, and that helps them

remember the story a little bit more.

Yeah. Let's have a look at that one more time.

We've had 'landmark' -

an important event that could cause big changes.

'Greenwashing' - companies say it's environmentally friendly,

but is it, really?

And 'warning shots' -signals that show action is needed.

Don't forget there's a quiz on our website:

bbclearningenglish.com. Thank you for joining us, and goodbye. Bye.