The Wire with Caeden

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced at COP26 that the country would introduce a target of net zero emissions by 2070, despite it being 20 years later than the US and UK, and 10 years later than Russia and China's targets.

Siddanth Prasad is an assistant professor at the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability at the O.P. Jindal Global University.  He spoke to Justin Wong

New Zealand has joined an international pledge that promises to reduce methane emissions over the next decade but no methane reduction policies and targets would not be changed.

The pledge, which was announced earlier this week during COP 26 in Glasgow, promises to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, but each country doesn’t have to meet that target individually.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw spoke to Justin Wong.

Facebook has said it will stop using facial recognition technology and delete its database of one billion faceprints in the coming weeks.

Meta, the company that owns the site and formerly known as Facebook, has recently came under scrutiny for privacy issues and the potential real harm its platforms causes in the real world.

Its Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Jerome Pesenti said in a blog post that the decision is part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in their products.

He said while facial recognition technology is a powerful tool to verify identity, it needs strong privacy and transparency controls to let people limit how their faces are used.

Mr Pesenti also said because there are many concerns surrounding privacy and regulators are playing catchup, the company believes that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is appropriate.

Dr Andrew Chen is a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland’s Koi Tū - Centre for Informed Futures.  He spoke to Justin Wong.

This week on the Wednesday Wire, the show kicks off with Zazi having her regular segment Dear Science with AUT Professor Marcus Jones. They speak about the search for people who never get COVID; discuss what COVID vaccines for young kids could mean for the pandemic; as well as talk about the common antidepressant that slashes the risk of COVID death. 

Zazi then has her regular catch-up with ACT's Brooke van Velden. They talk about the End of Life Choice Act, COP26 and The Act Party’s 'Vax Break policy'. 

After that, Zazi has a chat with Best Food’s Alison Murray, and Baby G Burger’s Owner, Cam Blanchard, about World Sandwich Day, which is today!

Finally, Jemima speaks with Hospitality NZ Auckland’s Jamie Freeman, and Heart of the City’s Viv Beck, about potentially easing restrictions in Tāmaki Makaurau next week, their reactions to the traffic light system and the calls to expand hospitality spaces onto footpaths.