Business Daily Folgen

The pandemic has brought with it a massive rise in plastic waste. Tamasin Ford looks at how the demand for hygiene along with plummeting oil prices boosted our use of single use plastics. In some countries, it has increased by 50 percent. In other countries, the increase has been even six or seven fold. She speaks to Gary Stokes, the Founder of Oceans Asia in Hong Kong, a marine conservation organisation. And to Amy Slack, head of campaigns and policy at Surfers Against Sewage, an ocean conservation group in St Agnes in Cornwall in the South West of England. Plus Jacob Duer, the CEO of the Alliance to End Plastic waste, based in Singapore - an organisation supported by the private sector. And Elsie Mbugua, an energy trader and founder of Elcy Investments.

The "hydrogen economy" has received a lot of hype, but could this explosive gas fill some critical gaps in a future zero-carbon energy system?Justin Rowlatt looks at Australia's plans to use its huge solar and wind resources to generate hydrogen from seawater. Miranda Taylor of the government-sponsored agency National Energy Resources Australia lists some of the many potential applications for the gas that the country is taking a punt on. But how many of them will actual prove commercially viable?Clean energy consultant Michael Liebreich says that despite hydrogen's versatility, in most cases it's likely to prove far less efficient than other technologies. But there are a few key exceptions, some of which could be life saving. Plus, chemistry professor Andrea Sella blows up a balloon, zaps some water, and nearly gives Justin a hernia.Producer: Laurence Knight(Picture: Hydrogen pipeline with blue sky background; Credit: Getty Images)

They’re the technical bits of genius businesses cannot do without. On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the world of semiconductors and why a shortage of them is holding up industries the world over. From consumer electronics to cars, the squeeze on semiconductors affects the supply of everything with a computer chip. Also, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela becomes the first African and first female director general of the World Trade Organisation. We hear from the woman herself about the task ahead. Plus, should children be learning about bonds, shares and savings accounts as well as algebra and geometry? We speak to pupils around the world keen to learn about finance and money.