if it could be quite a while, thanks a tony philip. the groundhog who can supposedly forecast when spring will begin has disappointed thousands of revelers who gathered to watch eagerly events. here's how it works. if phil sees his shadow when emerging from the ground, that means another 6 weeks of winter weather. that's just what happened in pennsylvania on wednesday. the groundhog day tradition in the u. s. and dates back to 18. 87. what is your news update at this hour? my colleague steven beardsley is up next with the business headlines and play richardson in berlin from the team here. thank you so much for joining us with. ah,

what people have to say matters to us. ah, that's why we listen to their stories reporter every weekend on d. w. the battle against cove it the only variant is putting health care systems around the world to the test. vaccination campaigns are accelerating, while restrictions are intensifying once again. but are these measures enough to stop the spread of omicron, fax data and reports listen, know what weekly covert 19 special. every thursday on d w. ah, ah. 30 trillion dollars, usda, it's a record sub with of from the big spending spree of recent years. what does

u. s. debt really tell us about the world's largest economy? also on the show, the e u commission approves controversial new rules labeling some nuclear and gas energy investments sustainable. we'll talk to our correspondent in brussels and we'll visit jakarta where new app is helping workers in the informal sector gets a much needed pandemic. 8. hello and welcome to the show. i'm from beardsley in berlin. it's good to have you with us. the u. s. national debt now exceeds 30 trillion dollars record some hit at the end of january. that's risen a whopping 7 trillion dollars in the last 2 years alone. fuel by government spending during the pandemic. the country's debt to g d. p g d. p ratio is around 100 percent, relatively high figure, but one that the u. s. has eclipse before including at the end of world war 2. and we'll come back to that just a moment. the e o commission says it will classify some natural gas and nuclear power investments

as sustainable as part of its new taxonomy of green investments. environmentalist and investor groups have criticize the controversial decision saying it would further green washing. i was praise, however, by those who see nuclear and gas as essential to reducing reliance on heavy c o 2 emitters, coal oil over now the d. w, correspond at mac. sandra has been following the story for us from brussels max, there's been a lot of debate around this issue in recent weeks. remind us why this classification is so important. right, so the e commission today presented their plan on the how to leverage investments into so called green energy by the private sector. and that way also achieved the use climate goals to become climate neutral by 2050. now that you taxonomy, i'm, is this the overall framework. it's a mix up guidelines to define for investor and for investors. which areas are green

and suspend sustainable for investments. and the idea is to feigned phase out harmful energy sources, such as a, such as coal and oil, and replace them with ideally sustainable renewable sources, or in this case with less harmful energy sources, such as nuclear and gas as a transitional tool. and that's why critics, of course, a, this is green washing to say that basically allowing investors at banks to, to check that green box while financing what they called dirty energy projects. what does the commission say to that? right, so does this despite having added nuclear and gas to the, to the use taxonomy at the commission argues that it's still heavily regulated. ok, just to give you an example, for example, gas power plants that will align with you. taxonomy by 20, by 2035 will have to be low carbon luko plants will need special fuel and depositories in order to get this the so called green label. there has been a lot of talks and so the 1st draft was a, was, was leaked about

a month ago. there has been a lot of criticism. but the european commission didn't really change a lotta about about this a proposal, nuclear and gas. we're still at, at the core of this, the still gated act, and this is probably also because of the majority. they know that they have the majority of backing in the european parliament. and the european council will be the next next steps there. but in terms of reacting to green washing, there has been a change of tone. um, commissioner mc guinness today, who was in charge of the youth economy said that the color coding is not necessarily the best way to, to address the issue of nuclear energy and the youth taxonomy. the commission, she says knows that it's not green and sustainable, but it's still necessary to achieve the climate goals as a transitional tool. mcsaunder, they're in brussels for us now to fabulous schneider who research is sustainable financing and was part of the advising team working with the

e. u on this taxonomy fabiola, thank you very much for joining us. what does today's announcement mean for green investors? well, be set scientist and, and use the jewish nelson. ok. and gas has also been, haven't you, criticized by asset managers and the investment community, for example, the i g, c, c, d, institutional investor group on climate change with over 50000 euros, off acids, unimagined, understand open data, explicitly calling for gas to be excluded from the u taxonomy, you know, there's a claim of green washing here, but if nuclear and gas are bridge technologies to net 0 missions isn't the goal. ultimately, a green one of cove you taxonomy was supposed to establish a common language and to key it if the mission of vote constitutes an environmentally sustainable activity. and deb, i'd provide clarity to investors and prevent greenwashing. new criteria for nuclear gas are doing exactly the opposite. because they contradict existing market

practice, for example, under green bond market, which exclude us a few of the nokia here commission itself into you being recovering package extrude again, nokia overall is just very inconsistent and hence splitting a market for buell. it will investors then turn to other taxonomies for green investment that they like a because them you taxonomy is no longer the gold standard, but lagging behind globally. and with him that he hadn't the needed progress to was 0. in fact, on gas you taxonomy is less than a chinese and the russian taxonomy. and it was a nuclear in the south korean one fabulous schneider with university college dublin . thank you very much. and out of some of the other global business stores making headlines. hi, energy costs, especially oil and gas prices, drove inflation in the euro zone to a record high of 5 point one percent in january compared to a year earlier. the rise piles pressure on the european central bank ahead of a monetary policy meeting this week. us drug maker, johnson,

and johnson and 3 drug distributors have agreed to pay a $590000000.00 settlement to hundreds of native american tribes. lawsuit blamed the companies for opioid addiction among native americans study show the group has had the highest per capita rate of opioid overdose of any population. and we want to go back to our top story now. the u. s. national debt, exceeding 30 trillion dollars record some hit at the end of january ins, quarter joins me for more in new york. yes, that's a nice big round number. but what does it really tell us? it is a huge number ended 7 trillion dollars higher than early 2020. so before the pandemic really started here in the united states, i mean what that means is some, it will be very difficult to get a, the congress, sir, to approve of more

a spending. for example, for you infrastructure programs that actually could hinder the u. s. economy to grow stronger and then on top of it too, we do know that the federal reserve are very likely will increase interest rates this year. so that will make this, that lot even more expensive. so that could be a huge trick on the economy. but what is interesting in general on wall street and also in some parts of washington, a lot of people seem to ignore this huge debt bloat that we, a master during the pandemic at even before or against quarter in new york. thank you very much. will governments around the world have opens up their coffers to provide that kind of direct pandemic, relieved to employees and business owners in need in many cases cash. but what about those in the informal sector? think street vendors, farm hands are domestic workers who don't have tax numbers or bank accounts. in

indonesia, 5 young professionals have developed an app to give exactly those workers, lifeline scrolling or instagram account, marita poetry who had just lost her job in an advertising agency, discovered baggy data initiative that promised financial aid without red tape. for loss of kung, actually i had no income other than selling breakfast tongue from yeah, my husband used to work, but he was laid off too in the pandemic if he needed. so to feed the family, i try to sign up for this platform baggy data to have at least some finance to keep my breakfast business going. well, i'm laying one down. what do i have baggy data is the wealth distribution platform where the name reflects the aim, it translates to equal share because this is what lady andrea felt was needed most in the lockdown. with 4 friends, the 29 year old designer founded the non profit organization baggy that that it up

from subsidiary baggy rata is a cross subsidy platform for the people who are affected by the pandemic. especially in formal workers who don't get government assistance or who don't get help from their employers or freelancer city yet. so the platform itself allows people who can help financially to be able to get in contact with people who need help or outing them. and in the same way with those people can say what they need. i think what i think i'm good with lennon monica more than 4000 people from all over indonesia. i've already received money through bucky data, the founders f, distributed around 90000 euros in donations. the key to success was that andrea took advantage of an existing digital infrastructure that had been built up in, in media in recent years. he programmed back hirata as a direct transfer system where the money doesn't have to go through their hands.

donors can directly send funds to beneficiaries through their e wallet. almost everybody here uses apps like oval go pay, or donna and mobile phones are affordable. marita pottery no longer needs the platform, at least for now, for husband found a new job. and the 28 year old mother of 2 is now optimistic that the country's economy will recover to why is an app even necessary? why didn't the indonesian government do more in the 1st place to help families need? here's our correspondent, geared matters with more to be fair, but when it comes to the government, one has to say that it's facing huge challenges. if you look down an economy like indonesia that creates enormous problems and so the government has put out some stimulus packages, some packages to deal with the health sector. in fact, for this year alone, 30 mill at 30000000000 euros have been earmarked for various projects. a lot of

that will go into the health sector. but there is some controversy now whether some of that money will is also a plant or to be used for the a moving of the capital of jakarta, a to a different island. and that is what some people a recheck because they say that the problems we have right now are already so big. and here's a reminder of our top business story. us national debt now exceeds 30 trillion dollars a record. some has risen 7 trillion dollars in the last 2 years, a load killed by the government's pandemic spending. and that's all for me and the dw business team to find out more aligned dot com slash business watching enter the conflict zone with tim sebastian. as montana international concern, no,

but tens of thousands of roughly troops along the border with craig. we talked this week to a respected foreign policy. am lithium murph, both. you're the owner of the west, misunderstood russian position. and just hoping this is the current situation conflict zone next on d, w in important question, following a sudden cancer diagnosis, which treatment and drugs are most effective? cancer research is in full swing in and what are the benefits of the new cancer drugs and what risks do they come with? the business of hope mm. in 45 minutes on d. w ah,

thinker is a sport of colors and the children in this mountain village. oh them all. can everyone be a dog with them regardless of gender? wears blue color of her favorite sex its traditions prevent her from going to games and play with an insurmountable obstacle the bloom girl football on the peak that starts february 4th on d w. ah, there's mounting international concern over tens of thousands of russian troops dragging along the border with you. cray, russia and nato have traded warning,

each side claims it being threatened by the other. but in the west one.