this is the business briefing, i'm victoria fritz. big data and the climate crisis. how our tech addiction is fuelling global warming, and what silicon valley can do about it. plus: bruised by the trade war, china sees the weakest growth in three decades. but will a truce with us kick—start the recovery? and, on the markets, more record closes on wall street. asian shares rise as that chinese growth number comes in as expected, despite some fears it

could be a lot worse. we start with the tech industry and its impact on the environment. the vast amount of data we use and store is a major source of carbon emissions and a major consumer of energy. microsoft is one of the world's biggest providers of computing power, along with google and amazon, and on thursday it announced the industry's most aggressive plan yet to tackle the problem. by 2030, microsoft has pledged to become carbon negative, removing more carbon from the environment than it emits. and by 2050, it hopes to have wiped out its carbon footprint altogether, by removing all the carbon it has ever emitted since it was founded in 1975. this goes much farther than rival amazon, which has only pledged to be carbon neutral, removing as much as it emits, and only by 2040.

here is the problem. there are now more than 500 hyperscale data centers in the world, and counting. these are huge sites set up by microsoft, amazon and their rivals, and housing thousands of computer servers. the more time we spend on social media or streaming video or shopping online, the more of these are needed. if that growth continues, by 2025, data could be using 20% of the world's energy, according to research from sweden. that is as much as transport consumes today. 0ur reporter chris foxx spoke to the president of microsoft, brad smith, and asked him what they are planning to do about it. we have a lot of confidence we can achieve these goals. in part, we will need to become carbon negative by reducing our own emissions very substantially, not just for ourselves, but across our supply chain, our so—called value

chain, as well. you're talking about ways you might be able to remove carbon from the atmosphere. what are some ways you think that might be possible? ultimately we need better technology. direct air capture, for example, runs the air through a machine, and the machine removes the carbon from the air. it then sequesters that carbon under the earth. and that's one of the reasons, among other things, that we're announcing today the launch of a $1 billion climate innovation fund. and greenpeace has been very quick to point out you offer your ai and machine learning to help oil and gas companies get more fossil fuels out of the ground. how can that sit side—by—side with a pledge like this? when we think about where the world needs to go, the first thing i think we should all recognise is that we want to create a world that's more prosperous than today. we want to increase per capita gdp everywhere in the world.

the second thing we should recognise is that that requires more energy. the world will need more energy a decade or two or three from now than it has today. so we need to work with the energy companies of today to help enable them to become even stronger and greener in the future. any company wants to use digital technology to become more environmentally sound, more carbon sensitive, in our view, that's a good day, and we don't want to turn people away. some people would say it's much better to stop emitting more carbon rather than trying to recapture it later. i think if you ask economists around the world, what will most influence the amount of oil we consume or the carbon that's emitted, you will be hard pressed

to find somebody who says, "let's put denial of digital technology near the top of the list". let's use digital technology, to the contrary, to work with every company, so that we can all become more environmentally sound. you are one of the only tech giants to make this pledge. when do you think the likes of apple, amazon or google will make similar promises?” think that we will see a lot of energy and the tech sector, in part because it is a sector that is doing well. it can afford to make these kinds of investments, and it should. i think it is something where competition can make each of us better. we can make each other better. we can make each other better. and you always want to compete and do better with the people in your industry, but at the end of the day, if we make each other better, the world is going to be better off, and we should applaud each other as we each take these new steps. let's get more on this story. mariko 0i in singapore has been

getting some reaction in asia. it isa it is a huge pledge, huge story. what are you hearing where you are? that's right, victoria, and it is a big topic here in asia, especially in australia, where devastating bushfires have sparked a lot of interest in the subject of climate change. though one can argue that microsoft has the money to do this, but what about smaller companies? if it costs a lot of money to be environmentally friendly, will they still care about the planet instead of their profitability? well, that's a question that i put to megan flynn from a company which advises companies on how to reduce their carbon footprint. businesses around the world are facing pressure across the world are facing pressure across the world, that is coming from governments, from regulators, from the community, but not least of which from their investors. the writing is on the wall for big business. if i take the words of

mark carney, the governor of the bank of england, companies that fail to adjust to this transition and this changing world, they will fail to exist. so she seems optimistic, and in addition to investors, of course, there is some pressure from consumers as well. so microsoft sending this message that they are going to achieve this very ambitious target will definitely be sending the right kind of message among businesses. really interesting, thanks very much. let's go to china now, where official figures out in the last few hours confirm the economy is at its weakest since modern records began. growth in the last three months of 2019 was 6%, unchanged on the previous quarter. that puts annual growth for the year at 6.1%, the slowest year since 1990. let's get more on this story from our correspondent in beijing, stephen mcdonell.

stephen, the stock markets, though, in asia have responded quite positively. i suppose it could have been a lot worse. yes, well, i mean, there's no doubt that this headline is going to... this headline figure is going to... this headline figure is going to get some attention. i mean, the lowest gdp growth in china for three decades. it's not nothing, and it does seem to show a softening of the domestic demand here, and also the trade war really kicking in and having an impact on chinese exports. the reason people don't think it is that bad is because, firstly, it is within the government's target range anyway for last year. and secondly, some economists think that the trade war may have actually done the chinese economy some favours. that's because the years of breakneck growth here, which delivered this vast mountain

of unserviceable debt, that's all going to come to an end. and so policymakers have been trying to sort of stepdown demand, step down expectations, to deliver a more sustainable chinese economy. there is going to be a hi—tech economy for the future, with services and the like. and so perhaps it is not such a bad thing. you know, one of the measures the government has tried to do, to make sure that the steam doesn't come out of the chinese economy to quickly, is to boost some infrastructure spending and also make more money available to the banks. but the crucial thing is where this money goes, in terms of loa ns. where this money goes, in terms of loans. does it go to these kinds of vanity projects in small cities, bridges to nowhere, as they call them in china, which don't help the economy at all and i just being

them in china, which don't help the economy at all and ijust being used to sort of boost local gdp, or does it go to these new companies which are going to drive the economy into the future? and that is what people will be watching in terms of where those loans are dished out. really interesting, a brilliant analysis. thank you. now let's brief you on some other business stories: google's parent company, alphabet, has become the fourth us tech giant to hit $1trillion in stock market value. apple first hit $1 trillion back in 2018 and is now worth $1.38 trillion. microsoft and amazon have also passed the $1 trillion mark. the boss of struggling airline flybe has confirmed it is in talks with the uk government over a loan, but says the financial support would not constitute a bailout. rival airlines have called for more details of the government's role in helping flybe to be made public. they argue that support for the troubled regional carrier may break european competition rules. the us senate has approved a new trade deal with canada and mexico, sending it to president trump to be signed into law.

the deal, which covers annual trade worth $1.2 trillion, replaces the 26—year—old north american free trade agreement, or nafta. canada's parliament has yet to give its approval, but is expected to do so. i will have plenty more coming up later on. next up we're going to go through some the papers. the royal college of psychiatrists is calling for social media companies in the uk to be forced to hand over data to universities for research into the potential harms of using the technology. it wants independent experts to assess how children's activities

online affect their mental health. angus crawford reports. she had so much to offer. molly russell's death... now it's gone. sparked a national outcry. these are companies that count their profits in the billions, and they turn around and say to us that they can't protect our children? questions about young people and mental health. you can compel them to do what needs to be done? yes, absolutely. focusing public anger on the tech giants and demands for greater regulation. announced in the queen ‘s speech, the government's plans for a new, independent regulator, and a statutory duty of care. my ministers will develop legislation to improve internet

safety for all. but the royal couege safety for all. but the royal college of psychiatrists wants tougher action. social media companies are very wealthy. they've got a huge amount of knowledge. they can create complex algorithms which hook young people into their platforms. why can't they be using the same amount of energy, knowledge and funding to try and harness the positive benefits and help try and protect children? tech giants should be forced to share data with university researchers, and be taxed on their global turnover. new apps should be designed to be age—appropriate. radicalsolutions which won't be popular with an industry making billions from the children who use its products. a really interesting idea. breakfast is coming up at 6:00am, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. they will have all the day's news, business and sport. plus, rebecca long—bailey and emily thornberry will set out their visions for the labour party. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the 100 lawmakers of the us senate

have been sworn in as jurors for the impending impeachment trial of president trump. police in panama have arrested ten people on suspicion of murdering a woman and six children as part of a strange religious ritual. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the seattle times, who report tech giant microsoft has promised to be carbon negative within a decade and to use its technology, money and influence to drive down carbon emissions across the economy. in the times, according to scientists, sepsis is the most deadly condition in the world and kills more people than cancer after finding that it is responsible for twice as many deaths as thought. the mirror leads with prince harry who say he and meghan's bid to breakfree from the royal family could take up to six months to finalise.

the papers says frantic talks on their future have stalled on their ability to strike big—money deals. 0n the mail0nline website, supermarket giant asda now has a different kind of filling station for its customers. shoppers will soon be able fill up their own containers with products such as coffee, rice and pasta and cereals as well loose produce such as vegetable without plastic packaging. this without plastic packaging. is just in one store at th moment. and finally — to bong or not to bong? the telegraph says the battle for big ben's bong on brexit night has turned into a fiasco after it emerged that a six—figure sum donated by brexiteers cannot be used to fund the chiming of parliament's great bell. you wonder sometimes in this job! anyway. with me is simoney kyriakou,