and we'll have more on that story coming up on business africa out with ben right after the show thanks for watching do you get the latest headlines from us on twitter our handle there after the news thank you for watching. bursts. home. of species. a home worth saving. again those are big changes and most start with small steps that can . do is tell stories of creating these people and innovative projects around the world. news that can turn the return used green energy solutions and reforestation. interactive content teaching the next generation doesn't want them

to touch it. using the channels available to inspire people to take action and we're determined to build something here for the next generation globally as the environment series of global 3000. on. the south african economy on the brink of collapse analysts say so right up close or is running out of time to reform this country blackouts continue to cause economic damage. to the u.s. and china finally signed a phase one trade deal but questions remain will they stick to their promises and what about face to. as the australian bush fires button and other extreme weather hits the world economic forum releases its global risks report. and it was all in

business a glimmer of hope for the south african economy today retail sales were up in november it's one of the best months old year but as you can see in this chart coming your way in just a couple. you'll see the numbers are all over the place economy is in a mess there you go. besides climate poverty and inequality blackouts making everything worse. from our business day t v in johannesburg what he makes of the uptick in retail sales. but i think we have to sort of a bit of a disclaimer because we are both from black friday sales which an officer gave us a bit of a boost. the economy has been quite weak and spending it has been quite weak but the number was was quite good month of the month on month number 3 point one percent maybe a 1000000 some group that was about 2.7. but of are we should get into much into it

when you look at the average for the year is actually quite weak and with the weakest about 10 years or since they are back with the financial crisis. is that how you do describe the economy as a whole. unfortunately yes the minute we. start time i say we i think we started with some of our major banks downgraded i'll focus because i never last year we had last quarter economy shrank and then in the 4th quarter we've had a then and then in the last month of december we had like 10 if you know chatting with eskom and that's so that's that's quite some people to downgrade a lot of their focus for for the 4th quarter and so we are expecting people for 20 twentieth's looking at a sub one percent growth again and i think it was a bank focused i think we should in november it was about one point 442020 chances

are there will be downgrading that tomorrow when they have that it's meeting the other thing we should point out is that these november sales figures starting clue december's blackouts one of the biggest stories to be affecting the economy right now what can we look forward to. i think that's the main point i mean for look looking forward we are going to have to account for and you can just know from what happened this time last year in that we had like blackouts in november december and then and then into january and that's by the end of the 1st quarter of $21000.00 they could only have she had to shrink age of about 3 point one percent so we can get a little bit of a clue from that that this is going to have a negative impact and if you look at our job december you're watching all the shopping centers closed or. so i can tell you about that day in paris definite and i'm going to be positive from talking about blackouts we're having

technical property problems there look at you thank you very much for joining us we can still leave you just for hours at a little. further ramaphosa says south africa will be more open to companies and households of all to generate their own electricity if there's weeks of criticism after the worst rolling blackouts in over a decade in south africa the state has come generates over 90 percent of the country's electricity but it regularly struggles to meet demand because of breakdowns of its coal fired power plants president says this move to loosen regulations will open up a new era. well grand ethiopian renaissance stam is said to come africa's largest hydroelectric power station if you know via showing the rest of the continent how to power its growing economy without buying on fossil fuels. and mamma's construction on the river nile the new hydro power dam in western ethiopia will go into operation at the end of the good it should be at full speed 2 years after that with a massive 6000 megawatt capacity the residents along the nile

a searing through that water supply and environmentalist are condemning resettlement plans and the impact on nature. ethiopia's entrepreneurs on the other hand think this could provide a solution to one of the country's stake problems unreliable power supply no home is a company group that manufactures of range of products including shoes if there's a power cut the machines stop working and then the electricity has to be generated using diesel that comes with an unpleasant side effect. on the road. to the diesel generator there's a few seconds we'll need your vote for trish from the machine which point their parties have tried those in the community caused that. only around half. of ethiopia's 100000000 people are connected to the power grid lock outs of frequent even in the capital addis ababa the government hopes the dam will change that it

wants to drive ethiopia's economy forward to transform it into an industrial nation and a key player on the global scene. we would be more competitive. even keeping in mind that the african free trade agreement is going to be in place and. the. competition. under new full energy from the hydro power down could make that happen if the project goes to plan the government is even hoping to export surface electricity an extra piece to ethiopia's growing economy. u.s. president and china's vice premier of you may have signed a so-called phase one trade deal that the white house in agreement is aimed at ultimately he said thing a conflict that's lasted 18 months if you will loosen some of the americans have some chinese made products into the united states and increased wages purchases of

american goods and was also promised to provide more protection for american companies intellectual property. well here's what trump had to say at the signing. today we take a momentous step one that has never been taken before with china toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade as we signed phase one of the historic trade deal between the united states and china together we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for american workers farmers and families . well many analysts question just how mementos that deal is the german economy is continuing to slow g.d.p. growth dropped to just point 6 percent last year down almost one percentage point that's the slowest full year economic roses for the 13. economy has been hit hard by global uncertainty surrounding the u.s.

china trade conflict and breaks it some economists also blame homegrown problems accusing the government in berlin of failing to invest enough. heavy rain in a straight could bring relief from huge bushfires but authorities warn the severe storms could create landslides and pollute drinking water they've installed containment structures at the dam sydney's main water source to staff or trap silt and at the fires of kind of these 28 lives in september destroying over 2 and a half 1000 homes and raising more than 10000000 hectares of land. like stream where the tops this year is global risks report from the world economic forum cyber attacks in geopolitics usually feature about the leading long term frets to the planet but this report highlights a whole range of environmental concerns not just extreme weather but also climate action failure. natural disasters biodiversity loss

and also human made environmental disasters it's the 1st time the report's top 5 risks of all fall in under a single category like this the study warns climate change is striking and more rapidly than many expect well let's bring in tom stall from the same institute for climate impact research to talk about this these results in this report. first of all these green issues are they really the biggest threat to businesses around the world and economies. yes absolutely after warnings of scientists have been by and large ignored for more than 50 years we're now in a real climate emergency global temperature is higher than at any time in the history of human civilization and that means that our weather is on steroids when the climate and weather add up in the same direction we get unprecedented weather

extremes like we have been experiencing in australia recently explain to me why it's taken 50 years was it taken so long for these to be realized. well i think a big role has to be played by the lobby forces that have basically tried to sow doubt about climate science and confuse the public and of course it's well documented that there have been hundreds of millions of dollars invested in to obfuscation campaign so this has been a fight between environmentalists scientists and lobby groups the business world what should leaders and bosses be doing as they prepare to go to the world economic forum next week. well i think we can take hope from some positive examples like denmark denmark has already reduced its emissions since 2005 by about 40 percent and they have now passed legislation to reduce them by 70 percent in the next 10

years and of course the key technologies renewable energies we need a carbon price and also in the transport sector we can also take an example from denmark how you can have more livable cities with fewer cars and just cycling and public transport as the dominant public movement modes the scandinavians always seem to be doing great stuff and europe also seems to have gone quite green but one of the major problem spots a major distrait here before one of the other regions of the world who aren't pulling their weight. well 1st of all there is a lot of countries that still subsidize c o 2 or fossil fuel use which leads to the c o 2 emissions so it's a no brainer that we need to stop all fossil fuel subsidies very very quickly and then introduce a reasonable carbon price that's just a basic economic question of the polluter pays principle why should you be able to

do damage to other people the people causing that they should pay for the consequences so do you see 2020 years a year of change. i very much hope so because it's kind of a last minute moment where we can still have a small chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees after all all nations on earth have agreed to in paris in 2015 it's now key to finally take the paris accord seriously and fully implemented some of the store from the bottom institute for climate impact research thank you very much thanks my pleasure. and i was doing business with. the for. the for the bomb.

the for the law by. the be. but dusty boots muddy tires and drums we deliver urgent life saving boxes we give our everything to reach those who need us the most every dollar feeding their futures. goats is for the whole hope of life saving fruit and the so much more down roads with no names we feel asleep deliver relentless you know promise to

make every delivery special. not just next day but every day. thousands of children still waiting for their delivery sponsor approx today so together. the live pictures. of. this instead of being us africa coming up in the next 15 minutes mozambique's mixed fortunes despite hope of political progress freedom from main french out to meet the country's top brass as a guy who's not afraid of offending those in power no matter how much they try to silence him. so this is the message that i have for my fellow african brothers and sisters so much love part to the people the more. fulfilled lives. so what is life like.