too pressure. is the path to net too bumpy to navigate? sales drop at test level. why are consumers switching off? welcome to world business report. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in europe, where inflation fell to 2.4% in march, according to the latest figures. that's lower than expected. the drop has been led by smaller increases in food and goods prices. the news will be welcomed by the eurozone�*s central bank, the ecb, which meets next week to discuss if and when it will loosen monetary policy. experts predict a long—awaited interest rate cut may come as early asjune. so is this a sign that we're now at the end of the region s worst cost of living crisis

for a generation? we will be looking at the analysis on the story later on in bbc news. two of the biggest manufacturers of electric vehicles — tesla and byd — have both reported a sharp fall in sales, confirming concerns there is a slowing demand for evs. chinese ev manufacturer byd has slashed the cost of almost every model since the start of the year, sparking a price war in china. tesla meanwhile reported it had handed overjust under 387,000 electric cars to customers in the first quarter of 2024 — the smallest quarterly figure in more than a year and less than market expectations. shares in tesla fell by almost 5% on that news. experts say tesla as well as other ev makers need to do more to revive customer interest. the industry has to make evs

interesting to mainstream consumers, and that's been a challenge to them. i think also tesla is facing — facing issues in the fact that competitors are catching up, they're getting better. you know, i'm a tesla owner. i've had a tesla for 12 years. and, you know, for the first five or six years, there were really no legitimate competitors. but now there are. and i think, so, you know, the customers are looking — starting to look elsewhere. the leaders of the world's two biggest economiesjoe biden and xijinping spoke on the phone on tuesday in the first engagement between them since they met in san francisco in november. this comes as the us treasury secretary embarks on her second trip to china in less than a year. 0ur north america business correspondent erin delmore has the details. the phone call marked the first

one—on—one communication betweenjoe one—on—one communication between joe biden one—on—one communication betweenjoe biden and xijinping since november. they had a lot of ground to cover. they had a lot of ground to cover. the risks associated with rapidly developing ai technology and military communications and the trafficking of illicit drugs. a white house summary of the court included a few others like china's unfair trade policies and preventing access to advanced us policy. president xijinping called us support for any taiwanese independence effort a red line and accuse the us of trying to oppress chinese development of technology. 0ver four days, chinese development of technology. 0verfour days, the chinese development of technology. 0ver four days, the treasury secretary is expected to meet with some of the top political officials in china as well as chinese professors and students. she is expected to warn china against flooding the market with cheap energy exports. things like cheap electric vehicles and lithium

batteries. the us is trying to offer its own tax breaks and bolstering the industries in the country by doing that. energy leaders are faced with multiple diverse challenges on the path to net zero. amongst them are ensuring energy security, affordability and delviering wider economic goals right around the world. in particular, global energy systems are showing signs of deficiencies and strains everywhere. these are the findings of the 2024 world energy issues monitor, a major international survey by the world energy council. let's discuss this further. i'm joined by dr carole nakhle, who is an energy economist and ceo for crystol energy. hello. welcome to the programme. so this is right across the board. what is the issue? the path to net zero,

ie energy transition, energy supply all commodity prices? where is all coming from? sounds like a perfect storm. it coming from? sounds like a perfect storm. , . ., ~ , coming from? sounds like a perfect storm. , . w , coming from? sounds like a perfect storm. , . .,~ , ., storm. it is a wake-up call on challenges — storm. it is a wake-up call on challenges facing _ storm. it is a wake-up call on challenges facing the - storm. it is a wake-up call on challenges facing the energyl challenges facing the energy transition. we need to get to zero by the end of the century. the path is very bumpy. the report reminds us of various risks as the report highlights. we should not forget that over the last four years we saw one crisis after another from poverty, inflation, the geopolitical developments, all of these have led to people realising their priorities are more about energy security today, ensuring you have cheap supplies of reliable sources of energy and they would like to push to have solutions for climate change in the longer term. the issue of

political fragmentation around the world, the lack of cooperation, is another problem the world energy council highlighted in its report. we do see competition between countries. in the usa for example, it can put countries at a disadvantage and divert capital from the subsidies that are offered. to sum up it is a bumpy road ahead for net zero by the middle of the century. net zero by the middle of the centu . ,., , net zero by the middle of the centu . , century. the report is called redesigning _ century. the report is called redesigning energy - century. the report is called redesigning energy in - century. the report is called redesigning energy in five i century. the report is called - redesigning energy in five days. are we saying the energy systems we have at the moment are not fit for purpose?— at the moment are not fit for --urose? , . ., at the moment are not fit for ”urose? , ., ., , at the moment are not fit for --urose? , ., ., , ., , purpose? they are not. there is only one solution- — purpose? they are not. there is only one solution. no _ purpose? they are not. there is only one solution. no simple _ purpose? they are not. there is only one solution. no simple single - one solution. no simple single bullet will get us to net zero. it is a combination of different parts we had to take no such thing as a single energy transition path countries around the world can

pursue. 0n electric vehicles, he was driving man? not in sub saharan africa where they have to think where they get bread and butter before thinking about the longer term. there has to be a model which fits each country. hi term. there has to be a model which fits each country.— fits each country. hi come across one example. — fits each country. hi come across one example, wind _ fits each country. hi come across one example, wind energy. - fits each country. hi come across one example, wind energy. the | one example, wind energy. the conclusion was this needed to be scaled up three times in order to meet demand by the end of the decade. i would like to very quickly ten to one point. of the energy leaders surveyed, around 50% said that engaging diverse communities, stakeholder coordination, was one of their greatest concerns as it had their greatest concerns as it had the most impact. could you explain to us, please? you the most impact. could you explain to us. please?— to us, please? you cannot get to these targets — to us, please? you cannot get to these targets without _ to us, please? you cannot get to these targets without bringing i these targets without bringing everyone on board. people have to agree with it otherwise there is social resistance to political targets and politicians will struggle. wind energy is notjust

about building turbines all around the country or region, about getting the country or region, about getting the raw materials, metals and minerals you need. not only about expanding capacity but also about increasing mining captivity in order to generate minerals. this is where another problem emerges, security of the supply of the minerals and metals when host countries are sitting on the metals and minerals and they become more controlling of resources. that is another problem the report has highlighted. thank ou ve the report has highlighted. thank you very much — the report has highlighted. thank you very much indeed. _ the report has highlighted. thank you very much indeed. thank- the report has highlighted. thank you very much indeed. thank you. the head of the un s intellectual property agency says there's appetite for global regulations governing artificial intelligence or ai — not yet at least. new figures show ai is behind a growing number of patent applications received by the world intellectual property 0rganisation — or wipo — but the overall number of applications fell last year

for the first time in 14 years. so are difficulties in the global economy getting in the way of innovation? 0ur reporterjonathan josephs spoke to wipo's director—general daren tang. what we are seeing as there is a difficult case macro economic leaf. i think what this means is it may be resulting in the to innovation. and i think what we need to do is that we know we are trying to encourage policymakers to look at this and to make sure that when people are innovative, they all have the best environment.

right. to bring the idea to the market. when central banks are thinking about the cost of borrowing, are they thinking sufficiently about innovation and the perhaps chilling effect that a high costs of borrowing can have on innovation? i think there are probably two ways to look at this. but in this moment of downturn, right, what we tend to see is that there is a focus on quality again. that may not necessarily be a bad thing for innovation ecosystems around the world. so for when the cycle turns up again, there will really be game changing technologies that come into the market, just like after the financial crisis in 2010. so when we look at innovation in the global economy at the moment, a lot of the talk is about artificial intelligence. what are the trends that you're seeing? are companies actually coming up with ways to use this emerging technology? digital technology is growing at 70% faster than other —— digital technology is growing at 170% faster than other types of technology. and within that al patenting activity is growing at 700% and 20% of the 700% is generative ai patenting activity. so we're certainly seeing in the ip data that a lot of the growth is coming from al and generative ai. and i think we're beginning to see some of these applications.

so for example, we know that there has been an ai called gnome that has created millions of new materials, crystals that can be used for all kinds of applications. and i think these are early days yet. and i think what i like to say about al is that if any new technology, we probably overestimate its impact in the short run, but underestimate the impact in the long run. royal mail wants to keep its current six—day delivery of first class letters between monday and saturday under new proposals set out as part of a reform package. parent company international distribution services is under pressure to cut costs and has suggested second class letters should be delivered every other weekday. the government has previously opposed reducing the service.

taylor swift has made it onto the forbes world's billionaires list for the first time. the american pop star has joined elon musk, ranking among the world's wealthiest people. swift enters the list with $1.1 billion — along with sam altman, creator of the ai chatbot, chatgpt, who joined with $1 billion. that was the world business report. plenty coming up shortly.

hello from the bbc sport centre. i'm anne—marie batson. we start with the premier league — and nottingham forest manager nuno espirito santo has urged his side to sustain the level of performance they showed in their 3—1 win at home to fulham on tuesday. forest, who secured their first victory in six premier league matches,

were just one of two winners from tuesday's five matches along with bournemouth who beat crystal palace 1—0 at home. the three remaining fixtures all finished 1—1. three more matches tonight as luton travel to arsenal, brentford host brighton while manchester city host aston villa. manager pep guardiola has backed striker erling haaland after the norwegian was critiscised following their 0—0 draw with arsenal. he is the best striker in the world. if he helps us to win this season, the reason we don't create more chances for early, we need more presence. an exceptional game against arsenal but we miss more people in the final third. for the quality and skills that we have but erling is exceptional.

arsenal manager mikel arteta says that his luton counterpart