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.

ነቲ ቪድዮ ብምዕዛብ ነቲ ስራሕ ዕመምዎ

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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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