Learning English

Countries try to change UN climate report

COP26 is underway in Glasgow, but leading up to the conference a leaked report seen by the BBC showed how some countries are trying to change a scientific report on climate change.

Roy and Neil discuss the news story and teach you some related vocabulary so you can talk about it too.

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The story 

Leaked documents seen by BBC News have set out how countries including Australia, Saudi Arabia and Brazil have tried to get a key United Nations report on how to tackle global warming watered down.

Key words and phrases

water down
make something less effective; weaken

• The initial plan was watered down after some of the ideas were seen as too radical.
• The pure orange juice is sometimes a bit strong, so I like to water it down.

spanner in the works
something that stops a plan from succeeding

• When the millionaire stopped paying for the project, it really threw a spanner in the works.
• The rain really threw a spanner in the works for the picnic.

lobbying
trying to persuade someone in authority to do something

• Campaigners are lobbying against the upcoming tax increases.
• We lobbied the government to change the laws on new housing developments.

To do

Try our quiz to see how well you've learned today's language.

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