is china's recovery losing steam? factories slow down in the world's second largest economy. and we looked why many of the larger companies are failing to differ on their net zero commitments. hello and welcome to asia business report, i am karishma vaswani. we begin today with china where factories are slowing down, that pmi declined to 49.2 in april below the 50 point mark, that indicates an contraction in activity. the

weather max second largest economy grew faster and expected in the first quarter, thanks to robust consumer spending after lockdowns were lifted, but factory output has lagged due to weak global growth and this raises questions about the sustainability of china's recovery. we have a market strategist here, she says the numbers show how uneven china's recovery has been. it is numbers show how uneven china's recovery has been.— recovery has been. it is a recovery has been. it is a pretty dire _ recovery has been. it is a pretty dire set _ recovery has been. it is a pretty dire set of - recovery has been. it is a l pretty dire set of numbers. recovery has been. it is a - pretty dire set of numbers. it has against come down below expectations but the bigger shockis expectations but the bigger shock is on the manufacturing side, it kind of shows how uneven the recovery is in china. i think two things are really worth noting here, first we are coming from a strong first quarter where we had this initial euphoria after the opening of the economy as well as some benefit from the chinese new year period. so for many manufacturers, they are a little downbeat after that

initial euphoria has come down. secondly, my big concern here is about geopolitics and that is about geopolitics and that is impacting on external demand, making it weakerfor china but sector and that is something we need to monitor because those are potentially the structural changes that will impact china for the longer term but for now we could potentially see more stimulus measures, i think the politburo statement that came out on friday already hinted at that, saying they are noting weaker savings and weaker spending and investment as well, so that that signals the chinese economy will be geared up chinese economy will be geared up with some amount of stimulate measures for now. —— stimulus measures. we are seeing ripple that a deal to rescue the first republic bank is imminent, us regulators have reportedly asked six banks to bid for the lender. their shares plunge last week after it admitted

customers had withdrawn $100 billion in deposits in march. at that time, its competitor silicon valley bank had collapsed, prompting fears of a wider banking prices. and then there was the demise of the signature bank. for more on this and whether a takeover at first republic could put an end to the crisis in the banking sector, we can speak to thomas hayes who joins me sector, we can speak to thomas hayes whojoins me now sector, we can speak to thomas hayes who joins me now from sector, we can speak to thomas hayes whojoins me now from new york. in the first instance, what you make of these latest of elements?— what you make of these latest of elements? well, we go to see what happens — of elements? well, we go to see what happens tonight. _ of elements? well, we go to see what happens tonight. other - what happens tonight. other they are going to get a deal done, i know various banks were invited to bid. usp and the bank of america declined the opportunity to bed. the odds are on a receivership and a bed for the assets. if they do bed, it will be at a smaller level, they have lost $2 billion of

marketing —— marketing cap. when you see one bank fail, like sbb, you can say is management, they didn't hatch out the interest risks but then you see other banks and it all points to one common denominator and that has moved too aggressively, too quickly, the stickiest —— deepest cycling 40 years that things are going to start to break, and this comes at the perfect time, considering we had the fed meeting on wednesday. 1dietitian fed meeting on wednesday. when ou make fed meeting on wednesday. when you make that _ fed meeting on wednesday. when you make that point _ fed meeting on wednesday. when you make that point of— fed meeting on wednesday. when you make that point of course, - you make that point of course, the fact that you are seeing this spill over in the wider banking sector, how concerned are you about the health of other us banks against this backdrop? other us banks against this backdmp?_ other us banks against this backdro - ? ~ , ., ., ~ other us banks against this backdro - ? ~ i. ., ~ ., backdrop? well, you have 4696 of de osits backdrop? well, you have 4696 of deposits in _ backdrop? well, you have 4696 of deposits in the _ backdrop? well, you have 4696 of deposits in the united _ backdrop? well, you have 4696 of deposits in the united states - deposits in the united states that are still an insured and the thing that would seal this up the thing that would seal this up right away is of the executive branch, which has the ability to do so in times of emergency, with step in and say we will do a temporary backstop on all deposits for the next 24

months until congress can get together and increase the fdic insurance may be from 250,000 to 500,000, that would probably quell some of the problems. the banks, in general, certainly the larger banks, are very well capitalised, this is nothing like 2008. however, powell has referenced his affinity many times and he wants to break the back of inflation. the problem is if you look at the history of what they did, voelker stopped hiking rates and even started cutting rates in 1982 while inflation was above 6% so why did bell could do that with inflation still so high is because he understood the lagged effect of an aggressive tightening policy that he did in previous months. and powell really needs to come to that conclusion, even though inflation hasn't met his targets that he can pause,

assess the data over the next few months and needs to go back to hiking, he can do so, but when you are seeing things starting to break, if he were to pause, i think you would see a big settling in the banking industry. i a big settling in the banking indust . ., ., , industry. i want to “ump in there. cant industry. i want to “ump in there. can we _ industry. i want tojump in there. can we blame - industry. i want tojump in there. can we blame all. industry. i want tojump in there. can we blame all of industry. i want to jump in - there. can we blame all of this on higher interest rates, thomas? isn't this also does the fact that regulation isn't as tight as it could be in the united states, and that has been an issue for the banking sector as well? i been an issue for the banking sector as well?— sector as well? i certainly wouldn't _ sector as well? i certainly wouldn't blame _ sector as well? i certainly wouldn't blame it - sector as well? i certainly wouldn't blame it on - sector as well? i certainly wouldn't blame it on the l wouldn't blame it on the loosening of policy that you in recent years, that was not impactful as it relates to these four. was the supervision of a little bit lax in san francisco? yes. was it a little bit lax in signature bank? yes. but there were warning signs. this is a symptom of the hiking cycle, you just... you've got all these deposits from all the

stimulus and the pandemic, you got them all at once at the same exact time which was effectively zero, and these banks did not do any cowboy type of investments. they weren't reaching for the crazy thing, you know, if you look at silicon valley bank, they had 5.7 year duration in us treasuries so they forced the stevenage checks into the banks, the banks had to invest them, maybe they could have been a slightly lower duration but they had to make some income. it is the unintended consequence of the plan to obviously get a hold of inflation, but inflation has been coming down since last july been coming down since last july and it is time to let it work through the system. thomas ha es, work through the system. thomas hayes. great _ work through the system. thomas hayes. great to — work through the system. thomas hayes, great to get _ work through the system. thomas hayes, great to get you _ work through the system. thomas hayes, great to get you on - work through the system. thomas hayes, great to get you on the - hayes, great to get you on the show. let's talk about sustainability now and the goals that have beset around that. while more than a third of the world's largest firms have made a commitment to net zero, a recent report says nearly all of them will fail you better pick up the pace by 2030. the

impact from the supply chain account for more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions so how can these firms decarbonise effectively, especially those with extensive supply chain networks? eight supply chains, just eight supply chains globally account for more than 50% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. what you start to see larger enterprises is that the minute there is a supply chain evolved, the indirect emissions coming from this supply chain are nearly 90% of the total emissions, so what this means for corporate as there was almost no escaping poking —— putting a really tight lens on how to decarbonise the supply chain. gone are the days when you say i worry about the operations i

take accountability for my operation, what disapplied chain does i can't control. this is why we see companies go down tojourneys, this is why we see companies go down to journeys, the journey of data and being able to get better connected and better visibility into their supply chain but at the same time also think that specific decarbonisation projects. think that specific decarbonisation ro'ects. ~ . decarbonisation pro'ects. which industries are h decarbonisation pro'ects. which industries are you _ decarbonisation projects. which industries are you seeing - decarbonisation projects. which industries are you seeing these | industries are you seeing these trends end? any particular industry that surprises you, for instance? we industry that surprises you, for instance?— industry that surprises you, for instance? ~ ., , for instance? we had seen some ofthe for instance? we had seen some of the big emitting _ for instance? we had seen some of the big emitting industries, i of the big emitting industries, everything from food to consumer products to agriculture, construction etc, they are the top eight supply chains that we think that the world should really be hyper focused on decarbonisation. some surprises often come from thinking about the fact that companies actually today have all the technologies they need to be able to decarbonise and

get to at least the technologies they need to be able to decarbonise and get to at least their you see sort of inertia in getting started down that process, this is what we think that applying technology approach to this challenge is very helpful. to get to those that zero plans.— that zero plans. ma'a harry, chief executive _ that zero plans. maja harry, chief executive talking - that zero plans. maja harry, chief executive talking to i that zero plans. maja harry, chief executive talking to us i chief executive talking to us about corporations and sustainability, particularly as these companies try to get to net zero targets. before we go, i want to tell you how adidas is being sued by investors who claimed the firm knew about kanye west claimed the firm knew about ka nye west for my claimed the firm knew about kanye west for my problematic behaviour years before they ended their partnership. they say they failed to minimise the exposure. adidas say they reject the claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend itself. the sportswear giant ended its collaboration with kanye west last year following his anti—semitic comments. that's it from us, thank you for

watching, do stay with bbc news for the latest headlines and analysis. chris alford has been a farmer in brecon since he was a teenager. he has been a victim of rural crime several times over the years, losing tens of thousands of pounds in valuables, from a land rover to slates off a farmyard building. if you do get anything stolen, you can probably write off the next week or two, you just can't concentrate anything, anyone turns up in the yard, any strangers, you are wary. so, yes, it puts on the back foot all the time. and then you get over it and all of a sudden it will crop up again. you are constantly on your guard all the time. the welsh government are collaborating with wales' four police forces to crack down on rural crimes, including theft. it's part of a new strategy which was launched at the royal welsh showground in llanelwedd. farmers and people living

in the countryside like chris have welcomed this strategy and say it will hopefully prevent crime but also give them peace of mind.

hello, i'm lizzie greenwood hughes from the bbc sport centre. coming up, manchester city returned to the top of the premier league, liverpool throwaway a three goal lead against tottenham only to score against tottenham only to score a last—minute winner in an action packed day at anfield, and the first ever 147 world championship burner, it has been a slow burner in sheffield between luca sayle and mark