Shadowing Practice: How much progress have we made on climate change? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Planet Earth is amazing.

510 million square kilometers under a blue sky.

Granted, most of that is salt water,

but the planet also hosts lush rainforests,

scorching deserts, grasslands, tundra, mountains,

and plains, inhabited by a rich diversity of life.

It is in fact the only place in the known universe capable of supporting life as we know it.

But for the past three centuries,

that blue sky has become increasingly choked with pollution.

The level of invisible carbon dioxide gas has increased by more than 50% since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

As carbon dioxide is very good at trapping heat,

this has raised the average temperature of the planet by more than one degree Celsius.

At the start of the 21st century,

it was predicted that continuing carbon emissions would warm the planet by about 4 degrees by the year 2100.

This would be catastrophic.

Food networks would collapse.

Extreme weather events like heat waves would become devastating.

Life on Earth would enter into unprecedented territory.

But preventing this future seemed impossible.

Almost every human activity produced carbon dioxide,

mostly because our energy was overwhelmingly supplied by burning fossil fuels to generate electricity,

produce heat and move ourselves around.

But the Earth as we knew it was at stake,

so people all around the world got to work.

This video is about what they did and what a difference they've made.

The single largest source of carbon emissions is the production of electricity and heat,

representing almost one-third of all emissions.

Because burning fossil fuels, especially coal and gas,

have historically dominated power generation.

But they're no longer the only options.

Renewable sources like solar panels and wind turbines emit far less carbon per unit of power generated over their lifetimes.

And globally, over 4,000 GW of renewables capacity has been built,

almost all since the year 2000.

but 30% of all electricity now comes from renewable sources.

But that's the global average.

In Uruguay, around 90% of electricity comes from renewables,

largely wind, but also hydropower.

And last year, the country went for 10 straight months on a 100% clean grid.

South Australia may also hit a 100% clean grid as soon as 2027,

thanks to wind and solar.

And other places are not far behind.

The North Sea might be the best place in the world for offshore wind,

and the current rollout of wind power here enables the UK

and Denmark to aim for a clean grid by 2030 and the Netherlands by 2035.

India aims to power 10 million households with rooftop solar,

adding 500 gigawatts of capacity by 2030.

But we can't discuss the rollout of renewables and not mention where most of them are being installed.

China.

China is building approximately twice as much new wind and solar as the rest of the world combined.

It's still the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide,

though that's because of its huge population.

The average person in China has a carbon footprint only two-thirds the size of the average Americans.

And its emissions have been rising sharply,

but not for much longer.

The huge surge of solar and wind construction in 2024 kept overall Chinese emissions lower

than in 2023 for 10 months of the year,

and every year the amount of renewables added to the grid increases.

This emissions reduction almost certainly isn't a one-off, but a systematic change.

Many analysts predict that China's emissions due to coal,

its other major source of electricity,

will start to fall this year.

And a new phase of low-carbon to run,

nuclear power is being built in China and around the world,

with over 70 gigawatts currently,

slowly, under construction, and generation hitting an all-time high this year.

China's new electricity system will see its overall emissions,

a huge fraction of global emissions,

peak in the next few years.

It may feel like we have made no progress in the fight against climate change,

but the power sector shows that is not the case.

In fact, carbon emissions due to generating electricity likely already peaked two years ago,

and will fall even under high forecasts for growth in demand,

such as for AI.

We're just building that many renewables,

and investing that much in grids and storage to overcome the intermittency of renewables.

In Chile, the Oasis de Atacama project is being built a 14.5 gigawatt-hour battery,

enough to power peak demand in the country on its own.

But peaking electricity emissions is not the same as overall emissions peaking,

because because not everything runs on electricity.

The next two largest sources of emissions are heating and transport.

Around the world, most people heat themselves and water by burning a fuel,

often natural gas, in a boiler,

and move themselves around by burning an oil-based product,

like petrol, in an engine.

This has long been the case,

but in some parts of the world,

alternative approaches are now more popular.

And where they are more popular tells us something about the near future.

Let's look at China and Norway.

In Norway, most households are not heated by a boiler,

but by a heat pump,

a fridge running in reverse, basically, powered by electricity.

And last year, 9 out of 10 new vehicles bought in Norway were EVs,

with the country set to phase out the sale of non-electric vehicles soon,

maybe even this year.

Meanwhile, in China, most cars now sold are electric or hybrid.

Uptake has just exploded in recent years.

That's partly because China dominates the manufacture of EVs,

but also because of what it has in common with Norway.

100

Cheap electricity.

101

In Norway, it comes from hydropower.

102

In China, from solar and wind.

103

Where electricity is cheap, it just makes financial sense to electrify heating and transport.

104

In fact, while on average around the world a little over 20% of all energy is used as electricity,

105

in Norway it's 47%, in Guangdong province it's 49%,

106

and in Zhejiang province it's 51%.

107

As renewables, particularly solar, roll out across the world,

108

the price of electricity will fall,

109

making electrified systems, such as in transport and heating,

110

but also industrial processes, much more appealing.

111

As well as being more efficient,

112

those systems are then tied to the carbon emissions of the electric grid,

113

which, being based on renewables,

114

will be low, much lower than running them on fossil fuels.

115

These sectors will see their emissions start to tumble in coming years as electrification percentages rise.

116

Of course, decarbonising transport is much more complicated than just replace cars with electric cars.

117

You can watch my whole video about that.

118

And this process can be accelerated with appropriate government policies.

119

This has happened in China and Norway, but now elsewhere too.

120

In East Africa, Ethiopia banned the import of internal combustion engine vehicles in 2024,

121

encouraging the development of EV infrastructure.

122

While in Kenya and Rwanda,

123

policies are buildings charging stations and shifting both public transport and two-wheel mobility,

124

like scooters, to electric vehicles.

125

Both to reduce emissions, but also improve the poor air quality in cities.

126

A win-win.

127

The world has made huge progress,

128

reducing emissions from power generation and to a lesser extent heating and transport.

129

At the start of the century,

130

scientists predicted four degrees of warming, maybe more, by 2100.

131

Now, based on current actions by our governments,

132

we will most likely see between 2.2 and 3.4,

133

with the best guess being 2.7, degrees of warming.

134

Global emissions may have already peaked,

135

and if not, will do so soon.

136

Emissions in advanced economies are already back to their levels from 50 years ago.

137

That's huge, but obviously still not enough.

138

At 2.7 degrees, we will still see enormous negative impacts on wildlife,

139

agriculture and public health.

140

Every tenth of a degree of warming extra makes the world a more unstable, dangerous place.

141

But that 2.7 degrees is based on real-world government policies,

142

what we're actually doing now.

143

It doesn't account for increasing our ambitions or recent innovations becoming practical at scale.

144

If governments announced 2030 targets are reached,

145

along with any legally binding longer-term targets,

146

we're likely looking at 2.1 degrees by the year 2100.

147

Yes, that's still too high,

148

but every tenth of a degree makes a difference.

149

And there are many areas where we've only just started to see real alternatives to the status quo,

150

practical ways to reduce emissions in the coming decades.

151

We haven't, for example, talked about iron and steel.

152

Long labelled as hard to decarbonise because of the huge energy required to melt iron,

153

supplied by burning coal, but industry represents around 7% of all emissions.

154

But in recent years, alternatives to coal have become economical and supported by government policy,

155

such as using green hydrogen and using electric furnaces,

156

which can of course be powered by clean sources, producing green steel.

157

Globally, 43% of planned new steel furnaces are electric,

158

and China, which produces half the world's steel,

159

now only approves new electric furnaces that process scrap metal.

160

Cement is another industry with a large carbon footprint,

161

only slightly less than steel,

162

due to its energy-intense production,

163

but also the fundamental chemical reaction that produces cement, releasing CO2.

164

Some are pushing the industry to change the recipe for cement,

165

but as it's the second most traded commodity in the world,

166

only second to water, that's a tall order.

167

So the industry will likely need to rely on carbon capture units being retrofitted to existing cement plants.

168

And these already exist.

169

They are currently being slowly implemented.

170

I actually made a video visiting one of them.

171

With the right policy support,

172

both steel and cement have potential to slash their emissions,

173

over 10% of global emissions, in the coming decades.

174

We've also not yet mentioned work on the other side of the carbon equation.

175

By protecting natural carbon sinks,

176

like forests, we not only suck more CO2 out of the air,

177

but also reduce emissions of carbon through deforestation,

178

and of course, protect biodiversity.

179

And since the year 2000,

180

carbon emissions due to land use change,

181

about half of which is due to deforestation, have reduced by 30%.

182

In the Amazon, deforestation has halved in the past two years.

183

All around the world, small local projects seek to restore lost tree cover,

184

plant new mangroves, and protect land from development.

185

There are also enormous projects like one billion trees in New Zealand and the Great Green Wall of Africa,

186

though these have many problems of their own.

187

Deforestation is still occurring at far too fast a rate,

188

but slowing it in the tropics has been a quiet small victory for the past few decades that looks set to continue,

189

and in temperate regions we've actually been net gaining forest cover since the year 2000.

190

Clearly, it can be done.

191

Working with, rather than against,

192

natural systems will play a key role in our trajectory this century.

193

But you may have noticed something about this video,

194

an area of the world where no large projects have been mentioned.

195

What about America?

196

Here emissions have decreased by 20% since the year 2000.

197

But earlier this year, the US elected Donald Trump back into the White House,

198

who made it clear that climate change was not a priority,

199

that environmental protections will be rolled back,

200

and that the country will leave the Paris Agreement again.

201

This is obviously going to have negative impacts on emissions both in America and around the world.

202

Confidence in climate progress has been shaken.

203

Many seem to believe that his re-election has killed the clean energy transition,

204

slamming the door on our future.

205

This is not true.

206

For one thing, America represents around one-eighth of global carbon emissions.

207

That means that while American emissions may plateau for the next few years,

208

I personally think a big increase is unlikely,

209

they represent a small minority.

210

And as we have seen,

211

other large emitters like China and Europe are making ambitious plays to reduce their emissions.

212

But more importantly, do you know where else is investing huge amounts into renewables that we haven't mentioned yet either?

213

The Middle East.

214

In fact, the Middle East is the fastest growing renewables market outside of China.

215

Companies like Oman, the UAE,

216

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are developing huge solar projects.

217

Just last month, the UAE announced the world's largest round-the-clock solar and battery facility,

218

even larger than the Oasis to Atacama,

219

coming online in the next two years.

220

These countries are built on oil and gas,

221

and they're now ploughing money into renewables because they recognise it as the future.

222

Globally, twice as much was invested last year in clean energy technologies and grid upgrades as was invested in fossil fuels.

223

The fact is, the energy transition isn't happening because it's the environmentally right thing to do,

224

it now just makes economic sense.

225

Solar and to a lesser extent wind are now so cheap that they are preferable to burning fossil fuels in many cases,

226

making electric systems cost competitive.

227

It's for this reason that heat pumps will continue to outsell gas boilers in the US,

228

Individual states will continue rolling out renewable power generation and investing in geothermal power.

229

The US has the real potential to lead the world here,

230

and after all, it does involve drilling, baby.

231

Drilling.

232

One person, even if they are the most powerful person in the world,

233

is not going to derail the transition to clean energy,

234

and by extension, massively reduced carbon emissions.

235

That transition is now inevitable and happening at pace around the world.

236

The question is, just how quickly will it happen?

237

Will it be fast enough?

238

Will we get to net zero fast enough?

239

We've already brought expected warming down from 4 to 2.7 degrees.

240

If we follow through on our medium-term targets,

241

we can get that down to 2.1.

242

If we are ambitious and push for net zero and utilise all the strategies in this video and more besides,

243

we can still limit warming to less than 2 degrees.

244

We have lived through a period of ever-increasing climate impacts,

245

but also ever-increasing ambition on climate.

246

We need this to continue.

247

Every tenth of a degree saved matters.

248

But as the re-election of Trump shows,

249

we cannot take it for granted that progress will continue to accelerate.

250

I don't want you to come away from this video thinking we have done enough on climate change

251

or we are moving fast enough,

252

because sadly that is still not the case.

253

The great adventure of securing our future is in jeopardy

254

if we do not keep climate as a core concern in who we vote to lead us,

255

who we choose to work for,

256

and how we spend our money.

257

But most importantly, it's not an adventure we need to start.

258

It's an adventure that has already made great strides.

259

An adventure we need to continue and see through to its final destination.

260

Maybe you can be a part of this great story keeping our Earth amazing.

261

I built this 1 to 100 million scale Earth from scratch over the course of two weeks and also filmed the process.

262

So if you would like to see an extra video of me talking through how I made this,

263

You can watch that right now if you have a Nebula subscription.

264

I post all my videos on Nebula a day before releasing them on YouTube,

265

as well as exclusive content like this model-making video,

266

but also me playing Daybreak with a team of climate scientists,

267

and a whole documentary about making my new YouTube studio.

268

All of these videos can be watched ad-free,

269

downloaded to your device to play offline,

270

and each view of a video on Nebula supports me as a creator more than each view on YouTube

271

because of how Nebula works.

272

It's a collective of hundreds of video creators who co-own the platform,

273

and who share the revenue subscriptions users pay based on the watch time their channels get.

274

Nebula also finances big new projects with creators,

275

like Boomers by Tom Nicholas and Modern Conflicts by Real Life Law.

276

Obviously I'm biased because I'm a co-owner,

277

but increasingly on my lunch breaks I've just been watching Nebula instead of YouTube because it's just a better viewing experience.

278

There's no ads, the design of the site is actually good,

279

and I don't have to hunt for a creator to watch

280

because the entire feed is creators who are making interesting, thoughtful stuff.

281

If you would like to get a Nebula subscription,

282

then you can pay monthly,

283

annually, or once for lifetime access.

284

If you choose to pay annually,

285

then you can use my link,

286

go.nebula.tv slash simonclark, and you'll get a 40% discount,

287

which works out to $3 a month.

288

That'll be linked down there in the description, by the way.

289

Three dollars a month I think is incredible value.

290

So that link again is go.nebula.tv slash Simon Clark,

291

so get access to heaps of exclusive content including my making of video attached to this video.

292

Thank you for watching,

293

and a massive thank you to JD who 3D printed most of the icons that you saw me place around the globe.

294

You may have heard of JD's band,

295

they're called The Longest Johns.

296

Her sisters died from Perk and mine,

297

but she'll run for decades more.

298

She'll run for decades more.

299

And also thank you to Nick from The Progress Playbook for chatting to me

300

and suggesting some of the projects featured in this video.

301

Do check out The Progress Playbook,

302

which is linked in the references down below,

303

for regular good news stories about the energy transition.

304

I also could not have made this video without the support of my patrons.

305

People who support me on patreon.com forward slash Simon Oxfiz get early access to my videos,

306

exclusive content every month, notably a vlog that goes behind the scenes.

307

This month's vlog is going to be all about basically how this project came to be,

308

a little bit about how I sourced the materials and how I wrote this video.

309

So if you'd like to watch that,

310

and if you would like to vote on a video topic a month,

311

you can do at the producer tier and above,

312

then you know where to sign up.

313

It's down there in the description,

314

patreon.com forward slash Simon Oxfiz.

315

And this just in, this body of water will now be known as the Gulf of Zak Subin.

316

Wait, no, sorry, it's been changed.

317

The Gulf of Ali Pasha Sadri.

318

No, wait, I'm just hearing.

319

It's actually the Gulf of Dan Hanvey.

320

Thank you so much for supporting my work.

321

If you like this video,

322

then please consider checking out a previous video I made in

323

a similar style looking at how we can turn cities into carbon sinks.

324

If you like this video then please do the YouTube pleasantries,

325

drop it a like, share it with somebody who you think would also enjoy it

326

and that just leaves me to say thank you once again for watching.

327

I'll see you in the next one.

✨ Recomendar Video

37 oraciones

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “How much progress have we made on climate change?”. Las palabras que más se repiten: emissions, carbon, renewable, electricity. Este vídeo tiene 327 frases y 3169 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 19:51. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 160 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 82 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
emission sustantivo	/ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/	emisión
renewable adjetivo	/ɹɪˈnu.ə.bl̩/	renovable
nebula sustantivo	/ˈnɛb.jə.lə/	nebulosa, nébula
grid sustantivo	/ɡɹɪd/	cuadrícula, matriz
cement sustantivo	/səˈmɛnt/	cemento
fossil sustantivo	/ˈfɑsl̩/	fósil
deforestation sustantivo	/dɪˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/	desmontadura, deforestación
dioxide sustantivo	/daɪˈɑksaɪd/	dióxido
furnace sustantivo	/ˈfɝnɪs/	forno, fornalla
globally adverbio	/ˈɡloʊbəli/	globalmente
tenth adjetivo	/tɛnθ/	décimo
predict verbo	/pɹɪˈdɪkt/	predecir
gigawatt sustantivo	/ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/	gigavatio
hydropower sustantivo		hidroenergía, energía hidráulica
vlog sustantivo	/ˈvlɑɡ/	videobitácora

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
check out verbo	investigar, chequear
roll out verbo	desplegar, distribuir
roll back verbo	revertir
sign up verbo	inscribir, alistar
talk through verbo	explicar detalladamente, decir paso a paso

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

We haven't, for example, talked about iron and steel.
Will we get to net zero fast enough?
No, wait, I'm just hearing.
I'll see you in the next one.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — una acción que empezó antes y continúa	have been rising · I've just been watching
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	has become · has increased · has raised
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	was predicted · has been built · being installed
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	People who support · somebody who you

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 29 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we've, I'm, they're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: tenth /tɛnθ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/, eighth /eɪtθ/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, deforestation /dɪˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/, ambitious /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/, subscription /səbˈskɹɪpʃən/, sharply /ˈʃɑɹpli/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: deforestation /dɪˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/, accelerate /ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, unprecedented /ʌnˈpɹɛsɪdɛntɪd/, commodity /kəˈmɑdəti/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: scrap /ˈskɹæp/, stake /steɪk/, scratch /skɹæt͡ʃ/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: vlog /ˈvlɑɡ/, devastate /ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/
/dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: surge /sɝd͡ʒ/, hydrogen /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como emission, renewable, nebula.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: How much progress have we made on climate change? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Climate Change: How does it really work? | ClimateScience #1

RE3 Unit 7B

Can Earth Run Out of Water?

Why should we care about coral reefs?

China Wrapped Entire Mountains in Solar Panels — And That's Just the Start

3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome! 3/3

Shadowing AFC22

When Heat Becomes "Unsurvivable": How Do We Adapt? | CNA Correspondent

Why carbon? It's the backbone of life! - Suzanne Simard | UBC Earth Day

RE3 Unit 7A

Untangled: What's eating our planet?

how?!@