The BBC has removed an educational page laying out the “benefits” of climate change after a furious online reaction.

BBC Bitesize, its website for schoolchildren, claimed warmer temperatures “could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles” and that a benefit of climate change could mean easier access to oil in Alaska and Siberia.

Other apparent benefits highlighted by the BBC included the ability to one day grow more crops in Siberia, new shipping routes created by melting ice, and more tourist destinations.

After a backlash from climate experts and campaigners, including the Guardian writer George Monbiot, the page, aimed at year 10 students, was amended to only include the negative impacts of climate change.

Monbiot tweeted: “This is what @bbcbitesize is teaching our children about climate breakdown. I’m sorry, but it’s an absolute disgrace. You could come away thinking: ‘on balance, it sounds pretty good’.”

Stuart Lock, the chief executive of Advantage Schools trust in Bedford, said the advice was “flat wrong, doesn’t align with the national curriculum or exam specs, and needs reconsidering”.

“Climate change isn’t a ‘both sides’ argument,” he added.

Extinction Rebellion’s south-east group said: “GCSE students, young people, those facing future disasters, deserve better than to be judged on questions which warp and distort the truth.”

The BBC said it had “reviewed the page and are amending the content to be in line with current curricula”. It is not clear when the Bitesize page was first published.

The guide was written for children studying for their GCSE geography exams. Many have been relying more on it during the pandemic as schools were closed, and pupils who have to isolate are still learning and revising from home. Bitesize has expanded its output to assist home learning.

The exam board Eduqas said the information was not taken from its curriculum, adding: “Within our GCSE geography specifications, we examine the consequences of climate change and its respective impact on our planet.

“As part of our courses, we also ask students to explore opposing attitudes to climate change. However, we do not advocate a positive viewpoint on this topic.

“The resources developed by BBC Bitesize were created without any involvement from our geography team, therefore do not accurately reflect the content of our specifications.”

In 2018, the BBC took a public stance on climate change, saying “man-made climate change exists”, adding that its journalists should be aware of “false balance”.

Scotland’s exam board recently came under fire from the Scottish Green party for teaching the “positives” of climate change. The Scottish Qualifications Authority geography course gave benefits of climate change such as “increased tourism to more northerly latitudes” and “improved crop yields”.

The political party said it was “deeply inappropriate” for the SQA to specify the pros and cons should be given equal consideration.

The SQA responded: “Analysing and evaluating a variety of views is essential to critical thinking.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jul/02/bbc-removes-bitesize-page-climate-...

So now apparenlty there are no benefits to climate change.
[url]
https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Positive-and-negative-imp
acts-of-climate-change-Climate-change-Eduqas-GCSE-Geography-Revision-.pdf[/url]

The BBC climate has been reduced from 7 pages to 4 pages.

"Positive impacts of a warmer global climate could include:

warmer temperatures and increased CO2 levels, leading to more vigorous plant growth

some animals and plants could benefit and flourish in a changing climate

new shipping routes, such as the Northwest passage, would become available

more resources, such as oil, becoming available in places such as Alaska and Siberia when the ice melts

energy consumption decreasing due to a warmer climate

longer growing season leading to a higher yields in current farming areas

frozen regions, such as Canada and Siberia, could be able to grow crops new tourist destinations becoming available"

https://wattsupwiththat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Positive-and-negative-imp...

issuevoter wrote on Jul 4^th, 2021 at 7:36am:


Please explain how man-made GHG's are killing the GBR. CO2 sequestration has been going on, as far as man is concerned, forever. That is of course when it isn't outgassing CO2.

Are you trying to tell us the ocean can distinguish between natural ad man-made GHG's.

lee wrote on Jul 4^th, 2021 at 2:08pm:


no, i'm saying that losing potentially tens of thousands of acres of current food baskets in order to gain a thousand previously unusable acres, or gaining a couple of new tourist destinations whilst losing hundreds of others,  is not a benefit.

John Smith wrote on Jul 4^th, 2021 at 2:11pm:



Perhaps you can show where these tens of thousand of acres under threat are. I may be able to buy them cheap.

lee wrote on Jul 4^th, 2021 at 2:13pm:


Do you know what the population of the Sahara is or its current crop harvest ?

You could see millions dying waiting for the decades needed for the Sahara to become either habitable or crop productive.

Lee and Ajax - facts will get you nowhere. You are Emotionally Incorrect, that's  all that matters to your interlocutors.

You are arguing with economically comfortable retirees who have gone through life avoiding critical reflection like the plague  and who have no ability or interest in starting to think now. 

There is NO fact that you can present that they will look at and think about.  This is a bingo hall. Nobody here says, "oh, interesting, I haven't thought of that, I will think about it now, thanks for the insight".