A new documentary exploring the world’s leading climate scientists’ vision of our planet’s future airs this week on BBC One. Presented by Professor Kathy Sykes from the University of Bristol, the programme ‘Hot Planet’ takes a timely look at global warming during this month’s Copenhagen summit.

Co-presented by Professor Iain Stewart from the University of Plymouth, the programme offers the most accurate possible visual prediction of the planet’s future, based on the findings of over 4,000 climate scientists.

Scientists predict that if global temperatures continue to rise at their current rate, the Earth will be one degree warmer within ten years, two degrees warmer within the next 40 years and three degrees plus before the end of the century.

If the Earth’s temperature increases to three degrees warmer than the average pre-industrial temperature, the impact on our planet will be catastrophic. Across the Earth life as we know it could be lost forever as climate change accelerates out of our control. But this doesn’t need to be the case as climate change is not yet irreversible. 

The programme explores ingenious technology and science that is currently being devised, advanced, and tested around the world, which could offer us solutions to a sustainable future. The question that remains, can we embrace and implement them, and adapt how we live, on a large enough scale within the timeline we now face?  If we are to prevent even more widespread damage to human societies and ecosystems, the global temperature rise must be stabilised and eventually, fall back down. 

The programme is broadcast at 10.45 pm, Wednesday 9 December 2009 on BBC One.