this is bbc news, the headlines. tornado has killed at least 25 people in the us state of mississippi. trees and power lines had been torn down by the twister and thousands of power outages have been reported by residents. tensions continue in france as demonstrators clashed with police in the west of the country during protests or plans for a new water reservoir. if follows weeks of unrest following president macron's pension reforms. vladimir putin says russia has arranged a deal with belarus to put

tactical nuclear weapons on their territory. he said president lukashenko has often been raising theissue lukashenko has often been raising the issue with him. an asteroid passed harmlessly between the earth and the moon this evening and what astronomers are calling a once in a decade event. you are watching bbc news. welcome to talking business. let's have a look at what is on the show. a crisis forcing governments to invest billions to avert a catastrophe. it is not the banking crisis, though. it is the climate crisis. as europe goes head to head with the united states on subsidies for green investment we will ask what it means for business, international trade and the future of the planet. i will discuss that with these two. there they are... and we will assess the impact

on business with wayne griffiths the big boss of the car—maker seat which has just announced an electric car battery plant in spain. he willjoin me for an exclusive interview. he willjoin me for an exclusive interview. and later in the programme, the man behind the cinema magic. i will speak to the boss of visual effects giant framestore. i will ask him about working on the world's biggest movies and what the future holds for film, tv and gaming. wherever you arejoining me from around the world, once again, a big hello and warm welcome to the show. just days before the un issued its latest wake—up call to the world about global warming, the european union laid

out its ambitions to boost the green economy. it has announced plans for massive subsidies to manage —— to match the near $400 billion already committed by us presidentjoe biden in his signature inflation reduction act. in washington, dc the issue topped the agenda at the meeting between the eu president and president biden taking precedence even over the war in ukraine. the first topic we discussed is inflation reduction act and, indeed, we welcome the inflation reduction act because it is a massive investment in the green transition, moving towards a net zero economy. it is mirrored by the green deal industrial plan in the european union. the amounts of money we are talking about for these subsidies is huge. the american inflation reduction act puts aside $269 billion in subsidies and tax credits for clean energy and technology. the aim is to drive up demand

for american—made products so if you want a subsidy for an electric car the battery for it must be made in the usa. it is claimed green industries in america added 100,000 jobs in the first five months after the act was signed into law. but the eu is fighting back. in february, the commissioner announced its green industrial deal pledging more than one quarter of trillion dollars for the green transition and then, earlier this month, two more big announcements for big subsidies. they are not yet law. they need to be approved by governments and the eu parliament but one of the main goals is to subsidise clean technology where at least 40% of the product is made in the eu. but despite the big numbers by the eu and us lag behind china. in 2022 alone more than half $1 trillion was invested in the sector in china.

compare that to the mi billion in the us, it is also way ahead of germany, france and the uk. so can these subsidies really make a difference to climate change and what impact do massive subsidies in one part of the world have elsewhere? let's talk to gareth from the london based energy and climate intelligence unit. good to have you on the show this week. we are talking about some big numbers. the question is, are they big enough numbers to tackle the climate crisis? definitely big enough to make a difference. they may not be quite enough quite yet. the reportjust published in the state of climate change globally suggest we need something like three — six times the level of investment we currently have to get on track but if you take the us $369 billion committed under the inflation reduction act alongside a couple of other pieces of legislation with money attached, may be as much as $500 billion,

that is a step change in investment. it will help put the us a lot closer to getting on track for its current emissions target and also will leverage considerably more investment. that 500 billion could leverage something like 1.2 trillion in private investment on top of that. what we are seeing is this big blocks coming together. the us, eu, china is doing its own thing way out front. i wonder where it leaves other smaller players. including in that the uk. it has left the european union. where does that leave anyone who maybe doesn't have as deep pockets? overall, it puts us globally in a very good situation. got some of the biggest economies on the planet competing to fund the clean transition that the science is very clear we need to get on track for 1.5 degrees.

the uk has led the way on investment in climate changed. it has moved markets. it has grown industries and brought supply chains to the uk to help the transition. i think there is a risk in the short term if the uk is not able to clarify the policy situation, to improve the regulatory situation in the uk and to keep providing public investment that leverages that, that it will get left behind and squeezed between the eu and us. it is a very valuable industry. net zero is valuable to the uk economy. recent calculations showed it is worth 70 billion a year and employs 840,000 people. that is something like five times what the oil and gas industry employs so it is worth fighting for. it is worth investing in and it is cheaper to invest in it than to bear the costs of not making that transition fast enough.

how long do the subsidies have to last? how long do the subsidies have to last? because they are expensive and i wonder if this is about changing behaviour in the short term or making a marked shift in the longer term because countries cannot afford to keep paying this? we've got a clear example here in the uk. if you look at offshore wind a decade, maybe 15 years ago, all the talk of offshore wind was to dismiss it and say it is expensive, we cannot afford to subsidise this. it is more expensive than nuclear. but subsidising in the right way, incentivising and leveraging private investment grew the industry, deployed offshore wind at a phenomenal rate which brought down costs, improved the technology, grew the companies and industry, providedjobs, high—qualityjobs in areas of the uk that very much welcome them and now offshore wind

is cheaper than gas. these subsidies already announced are still in their infancy but i wonder what difference they are making already and i suppose that comes down to corporate thinking about where they may set out, whether they have the financial support to invest in new r and d and green tech. we've seen some announcements from companies that battery companies, car companies, that they may switch investments to the us because of the subsidy that is on offer but this is not a zero—sum game. in the end, a huge part of this, these clean technology industries, did not exist 15, 20 years ago. they have grown as a result of the need and investment. making it abundantly clear that the need is still there first to expand these industries, expand this transition. and more of that investment will grow, continue to grow those

industries, continue to grow the opportunities. it is about investing in the right way at the right time. it is so good to talk to you. thank you for being with us on the programme. it is clear this is also about creating jobs and business. but is it also about governments protecting their own economies? camela is an expert on trade law at the university of sussex. it is good to have you on the programme. if you take the word green out of the subsidies it is essentiallyjust state aid, isn't it? yes, it is a state aid. the differences in the eu it is very carefully regulated under this framework whereas in the us, they are not so interested in international laws and norms to regulate their subsidies. talk to me about the difference. why is the us taking such

a different approach? the us is, in terms of a power game, the us has always felt it has been able to guide the international trade system just through its dominance whereas the eu is very much a proponent of the international rules—based system under the wto and internally to ensure a level playing field among member states. it suggest that by putting the word green in front of this, the us is able to throw out all of those internationally agreed laws. there is a real problem with greenwashing at the moment and the us is supporting its domestic industry and domestic production through these local content requirements which actually violates

international trade rules under the wto but theere are no filters in the government at the moment to try and stop these transgressions but, the end of the day, this is a subsidy race and china obviously is ahead of the game and the real problem is that a subsidy raise is really a trade war and we know what happens when there are trade wars, what happened just before the second world war and we also know that poor countries can't play this game. this is a rich country race, you actually exacerbating global inequalities. interesting that you mention this is a developed world issue. where does all of this leave the developing world? those without subsidies are left out of this game and theyjust have to hope that they can afford to import these goods and they might not be the cheapest and they might not be the most green of what we would like the world to be pursuing. for those countries it is kind of like india and indonesia. they look to see how the us

is flouting international rules and they think, well we're just going to have to play the same game. do you fight fire with fire or do you have the moral high ground? when you have domestic pressures at home such as unemployment and poverty, then sometimes it is easier politically to justjoin the subsidy game and that is not the most efficient use of resources or the most effective way to mitigate the planet crisis. we are talking about three big blocks. china, the eu and us. i wonder, after brexit, the uk's departure from the eu, where does this leave the uk? the uk has been trying to have a sort of green industrial policy under brexit. the problem is the uk is equally conditioned by the international rules —based system and so we already have the eu

actually bring in the uk to consultations and the wto because of its low carbon subsidies so the uk has as much to worry about by these rules as any other country and again, the uk hasn't got the resources that the us has so in terms of the industry, maybe it is more about new tech rather than focusing on electric vehicles and solar panels which are already mature industries, maybe we need to think even further ahead of the game and look at hydrogen and further on because it does seem to be a waste of time to try to catch up. thank you so much. really good to have your thoughts on the programme. what impact does this have on business? if you are a car—maker deciding where to make your next generation of electric cars, could subsidies influence your decision? let's talk to somebody who is tackling that. the boss of seat. thank you for being on the programme

this week and talk to me about that investment you are making. electric battery production there. how important were subsidies in making that decision? the total investment of seat and together with their partners, it is a 10 billion euros investment in electrifying spain and that investment is split across different areas. developing small electric cars that we're going to build here in spain in our two plants. the other is preparing the plants so the plants themselves need to be prepared for electrification then the big news last week where we were laying the foundation with the prime minister and the king of spain for the first giga factory battery plant in spain in valencia. when you look around the world to see where you might expand operations, how influential is that subsidy in where you establish? it is playing a key role

at the moment and we have to make sure that europe, that we maintain our competitiveness against the us so our decision for the 10 billion investment in spain, the spanish government played a key role. we had a unique moment in time, unique opportunity that we could use to support us in making a decision particularly for the new activity of the battery plant in valencia. that was absolutely key and essential and, as i say, looking ahead, when we see what is happening in the united states and also in canada and the north american region, europe needs to maintain competitiveness. that neatly gets us onto that story and headlines of late. you are part of the vw group. there is a lot of speculation that the group may instead of setting up that big investment

in eastern europe that money might go to the us to take advantage of some of the new subsidies. how much truth is in that? i cannot comment on the plans of that group but we can confirm we are doing our electrification here for the battery electric plans. i think you also need battery plants close to where you produce and reproduce more in spain so it makes a lot of sense for us to have and we produce more in spain so it makes a lot of sense for us to have that battery plant here in spain. there is another factor i would like to bring to the table, notjust inventions but if you are going to build a battery electric vehicles with zero emissions you need renewable energy to do that. it does not make sense to build batteries, electric batteries with fossil fuel generated electricity so in the case of spain with 50% of energy sourced from renewable energy and the potential of that becoming more. you can see behind me

the sun is shining. the sun shines 300 days a year so we have a huge potential of renewable energy and i think that plays an important role, a decisive role in the case of spain. what is the tipping point? when are we more likely to be in electric vehicle than one fuelled by fossil fuels? that will depend a lot on the country, i think. if we look in the north of europe it is already very advanced. the average across all of europe is 20% of sales are electric vehicles, germany is slightly higher and scandinavian countries are even higher. the uk also are 20 or 25%. in southern europe they are lagging behind particularly here in spain with only 10% electrification so it is different in different markets. but i think a lot of it will depend on how committed the european governments are in their individual

markets to support the acceleration to electrification not only in terms of incentives for electric cars but the charging infrastructure is one of the biggest worries the consumers have so that has to speed up as well and from a spanish point of view i am needing the car industry here in spain and we are pushing the government to speed up with concrete actions in this area. can the climate wait that long? the targets for 2030 50 emissions is an ambitious target when you see where we are today and where we want to be it is one cycle of a car and obviously, cars are not the only producer of c02 and emissions so we need to do ourjob but we want to be part of the solution.

we are speeding up. i think 2025 onwards with a small battery electric vehicles built in spain we will see the number of electric cars going up considerably and we want to be fully electric brand by 2030. 0ur targets are ambitious. we just have to start speeding up now. it is good to talk to you. enjoy that sunshine. we were talking about subsidies for green technology but here in the uk, the government has also just announced extra help for the film industry. generous tax credits for productions based in the country but the big blockbuster movies, do they really need financial help? let's talk to sir william sergeant who founded one of the world's most successful production companies. welcome to talking business. we've been discussing green

subsidies on the programme and there are now subsidies for your industry, too. green subsidies might help the planet, is it right that we subsidise your industry? do you need financial help? to be competitive. it is an inward investment so that would not come here. we get e7 of value for every e1 of tax credit so if we did not have that we would have additional benefit, very simple. no tax credit, the business would not come here. those credits make it more financially viable to operate in a certain country, don't they? talk to me about what would happen if they were not on offer. can you still afford to do it somewhere in the like the uk? the hollywood studios is co—funded with an american company

so if we didn't have the tax credits, production would basically go to different parts of the world and a community we spent 25 years building. the creative industries is the fastest—growing part of the economy and has been for the past decade so we would basically be giving up something that we are world leaders in. and when you give it up it is very difficult to get it back. you have worked on some huge productions, haven't you? things like top gun, harry potter, the marvel movies, you talked about. a lot of them are sequels. criticism that originality has gone out the window because you can just turn out sequels. is there any truth in that? not really. the world has always had sequels. the world has always had sequels. what is wrong with harry potter, variations on the story. sequels, if you think about the marvel cinematic universe, we all want characters and stories.

coronation street is however many times a week sequel but we like the characters and environments. i would love to see some of your special effects in coronation street. there is the merging of television, movies and gaming now put up a huge part of what you do is gaming so talk to us about the direction of the industry overall because the lines are blurring between what was a traditional industry and a very new industry. i'm thinking of things like the last of us. a computer game successful on television with very filmic production values. it all comes down to storytelling. the direction has been to tell stories so previously quite often the plotlines and characterisations

are now you've characters in games which you can actually connect emotionally. what is most exciting and all the things your company does right now? in a career working with technology companies in different forms of reality which we call mixed reality and immersive technologies so if you look at a game like fortnight, for example, we currently consume entertainment and live our lives in a digital sense with their mobile phones and laptops or whatever. you talk about the virtual world. like meta. it hasn't quite taken off yet as they thought it would. is it shaping out how you thought it would? it is shaping out into all the components of what is called a three—dimensional world. and, you know, when you look

back at the internet, like google, you are looking at the same analogies as we move into three—dimensional world in that it is like hollywood. nobody knows anything. nobody is guaranteed to be a winner just because you spend $10 billion. it is too early to own the metaverse. you have been doing this quite a while. has the industry changed in the way you thought it would? did you ever foresee you would be creating the sort of stuff and you founded the business? we set up eight people in a room and wanted to be big in soho and then we wanted to be big in london but we always set out to be big in the world because film was where the action was. 0ur aspirations were global and ambitious and it is about storytelling and enabling story and so we look at now what will be happening in the next five years.

it is about will someone pay for it now? will someone take the financial risk because it all comes back to the consumers buying something that then makes it financially feasible to do something different in storytelling. it sounds really exciting. thank you so much for being with us from la. you are very kind. thank you. that is it for this week. you can keep up—to—date with all the latest on the global economy and the bbc website or on the smartphone app. you can reach me, if you want to. i am on twitter. thanks for watching. we'll see you very soon. we will keep some showers going across parts of northern england and southern scotland. more persistent rain pushing into central england,

part of the midlands, central wales. clear skies across north scotland but also wintry showers. temperatures at or below freezing, similar to north of england, further says overnight lows of 4—7 cells. do not forget the clocks go forward in the early hours of sunday morning. sunday starts in a wet note. rain clearing eastwards, leaving cloud for much of england, wales and northern ireland. sunshine for the northern ireland. sunshine for the north and wintry showers for scotland and north—east england. a much colder feeling day. scotland and north—east england. a much colderfeeling day. it scotland and north—east england. a much colder feeling day. it is a cold but sunny start to the new week, a tristar on monday then turning wet and windy but also much milder.

this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds. our top stories... a state of emergency in the us state of mississippi, after a violent tornado kills at least 25 people. many tornadoes passed in five to ten minutes. this was on the ground for over an hour, smashing through towns and cities over 100 miles. vladimir putin says russia has struck a deal with neighbouring belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory. the uk government is expected to announce the use of ferries as part of a series of alternatives to hotel accommodation for migrants as early as next week. and growing tension in france — riots today in the west —