12/12/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News

with Sally Bundock and Ben Bland.

Two years on from the Paris Climate

deal world leaders are back

in the city to work out how

they are going to pay

for all their promises.

Live from London, that's our top

story on Tuesday December 12.

They need $100 billion

a year to make it work,

and America now won't pay a penny -

so can world leaders come together

today and work out how to fund

the Paris Climate agreement?

Also in the programme,

the price of Brent crude oil has

hit its highest level in two years

after a key pipeline

from the North Sea was shut

due to safety fears.

And the markets across Europe are on

central bank watch with the Fed

meeting starting today. We also have

the European Central Bank the Bank

of England as the week progresses.

And we'll be getting

the inside track on how artificial

intelligence is helping to 'drive'

the self-driving car revolution.

And as world leaders meet to talk

about climate change what steps do

you think they should take? Fewer

flights, less driving, perhaps laced

meat?

Let us know.

Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

Get in touch with your top tips or

ideas when it comes to making us all

a bit more environmentally friendly.

Let's start

in Paris, on this day, in 2015,

a landmark deal to tackle climate

change was agreed by almost every

nation on the planet.

Now, two years on, national leaders

are meeting back in Paris to discuss

the deal and how to pay for it.

The deal commits 195 countries

to keep the rise in global

temperatures to less than 2 degrees

Celsius from the pre-industrial era.

The International Energy Agency has

estimated it will take

$3.5 trillion a year for the next 30

years to contain that rise

of global temperatures.

As part of the deal rich nations

have agreed to maintain

a $100 billion a year funding pledge

to help developing countries

to adapt and develop

renewable resources.

However questions have been

raised over where much

of this money will come

from after President Trump pulled

the US, the world's

second-largest carbon emitter -

out of the deal.

President Trump says

the agreement would cost the US

6.5 million jobs and $3tn in lost

GDP - while rival economies

like China and India

are treated more favourably.

Let's get more on this story

with Helen Mountford,

Global Director of Economics

at the World Resources Institute -

who joins us from Paris.

I suppose the big question is can

they achieve this without America?

There is an incredible momentum

here, I think we have a grouping of

countries, we have got states and

businesses and investors who are

capturing the moment we had in Paris

and moving ahead. We are expecting a

number of announcements later today

on how they are stepping up to help

close the gap both on financing and

action.

What would you like to see

from them in terms of big practical

steps, would be the key things you

think they could agree at this

gathering to try and deal with

climate change?

I think one of the

most exciting tournaments at the

moment is in the finance sector,

investors and banks are starting to

recognise the importance of

understanding climate related

financial risk and opportunities.

Where the real opportunities of the

future are and those are renewable

energy and storage batteries and

restoring degraded lands. There is

enormous economic and investment

opportunities. They are starting to

see that and they are also seen the

risks of continuing to go on with

business as usual where we invest in

fossil fuel, or reinvest in

congested and polluted cities. The

cost are enormous, an estimated 3

million people per year die of air

pollution alone. When of the

exciting things to look for is for

the investors will say, are they

going to be asking companies to

start disclosing how aligned they

are with the Paris agreement? There

are recommendations on this from the

G20 task force and there are are

already 100 companies and banks that

say they will be commenting these.

Willmore come forward? That's what I

would be looking for today.

From

that it sounds like your perspective

is the onus, the key momentum needs

to come from businesses rather than

government.

No, it has to come from

everybody, both, business needs

clear policy and regulatory

framework to do their business well.

But a number of them are stepping up

already and moving forward, we also

have a number of countries who are

represented here who were expecting

to come forward and even within the

US we have got an incredible

movement amongst the US states and

cities as well as businesses,

universities, who are still in for

the Paris agreement, who represent

about half of the US economy who

have said they are still intending

to meet the Paris agreement calls.

Thank you very much.

One of the UK's most important

pipelines was stopped after a crack

was discovered. We have our

economics correspondent Andrew

Walker with us. I serious is this?

Serious enough that the pipeline

system will be closed for weeks

rather than days, we do not have a

specific timescale but as you

indicated, it's a very big deal for

the North Sea industry, it has a

capacity of getting on for half a

million barrels per day, to put it

in a global context that is

equivalent to about 10% of the total

oil production of Iran or Iraq so

this is a major disruption to the

industry.

Presumably that is why we

have seen such a spike in the price

of Brent crude?

Absolutely, and some

other interesting features, there is

more of an increase in the premiums

you have to pay for delivery now

rather than a few weeks or months.

Also an increase in the premium for

the Brent price from the North Sea

compared with what you are having to

pay for American crude oil. That

also partly reflects has been an

increase in shell production in the

US, but the widening of the premium

for North Sea oil is very much down

to these developments.

Is the time

of year also a factor, because we

are in the middle of the winter.

Absolutely, and there was a bigger

surge in the wholesale price of gas.

It is winter and as I am sure you

noticed it's a particularly cold

phase of this part of winter so

demand is pretty strong and at the

moment we're having this

interruption to supply.

Thanks very

for that. We will keep an eye out.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

France's Unibail-Rodamco has agreed

to buy shopping mall owner Westfield

for $24.7 billion including debt,

in what would be the biggest

takeover of an Australian

company on record.

The deal accelerates consolidation

amid the global retail property

sector as it grapples

with challenges from online

retailers led by Amazon.com.

The Financial Times is reporting

that the world's largest

listed oil and gas group,

ExxonMobil, is to start publishing

reports on the possible impact

of climate policies on its business.

The decision is being seen

as a success for investors who have

been pushing for improved disclosure

on the risks it faces.

Finance ministers in five European

countries have written to their US

counterpart to warn that planned

changes to American tax law

could violate international rules.

In a letter to the US

Treasury Secretary the ministers

argued the proposed changes

would risk having a major distortive

impact on international trade.

These are the Asian markets, closing

down by one third of a percent, the

closing figure is correct but the

big zero is not. The reason markets

in Asia were mixed is not a bit flat

is partly because traders worldwide

are treading water with the Fed

reserve meeting beginning today and

ending tomorrow with the expectation

we could see the cost of borrowing

going up in the world's biggest

economy so let's look at Europe. You

can see the FTSE treading water, it

is the case across Europe, we have

some very stock specific stories,

news that Comcast has pulled out of

the attempts to buy Sky, so it looks

like Walt Disney might be one of the

biggest winners, that's an

interesting one to keep an eye on.

We will keep an eye on markets in

detail at the moment. But let's go

to New York and look ahead to the

day on Wall Street.

All eyes will be on the Federal

reserve as it begins its two day

meeting on interest rates. The Fed

kept interest rates unchanged at the

last meeting and pointed to a solid

US economic growth and the

strengthening Labour market. The

expectation is that the Fed will

raise interest rates. We will not

know until the end of the meeting

which is on Wednesday. Also

happening on Tuesday the Labor

Department will report it producer

price index rose 3% in the month of

November compared with an increase

of .4% in the previous month. And

finally the Treasury Department

report on the federal budget is

expected to show the US Federal

government ran a $134 billion

deficit in the month of November.

David Bloom, Global Head of FX

Strategy at HSBC joins me now.

Lots of central bank action this

week.

It is a busy week before silly

jumper time which will probably

start next week. At the moment we

have the Federal reserve, and as you

said and 97% rate hike, the ECB, the

bank of England, if you are

interested in emerging markets

Russia and Turkey. It's all

happening this week.

Which will grab

your attention? We are all assuming

we will get a rate rise tomorrow in

the US but what about other central

banks?

I think the others could be

dull as dishwasher because we are

interested in is what it will tell

us. We think the bank of England

will raise rates again in the first

quarter next year but will they give

us the signal? This is forward

guidance, what they are thinking and

how they are thinking.

It's more

difficult for the Bank of England,

in the United States the economy is

doing well, there are issues with

the ability to get reforms through

etc but here in the UK you have got

Brexit, strong pound, inflation

spikes, it's much harder for Mark

Carney?

It is but central banks

decide what to do and tell us well

in advance so actually the way you

think about it, the central bank

think about it, what we used to do

in the old days is spent how were

they thinking and what they were

thinking, what they might do that

now they just tell us. So life is a

lot easier than it was before and we

have to price it. Maybe that is why

volatility, market going up and down

is practically an adult I'm low at

the moment is the central bank, the

most important central bank in the

world, the Fed, 97% priced in.

But

they have to deliver!

We get the latest inflation figures

in just under an hour or so and it

will give us an hint as to whether

the Bank of England have made the

right move when the increased

interest rates at the beginning of

November.

Yes the markets are always

looking for justification and

verification but always looking for

the next meeting as well. There was

an interesting story on the oil

pipeline which shows how involved

everything is in financial markets,

what does that mean for the next

inflation numbers? Will the Bank of

England in no it as a temporary

factor? These are the thinking when

you get one little thing, it moves

into all other areas of the market,

oil prices going up, who benefits

and who loses?

Do not give us the

answer to those questions, you will

come back and talk about that later

on. Thank you.

David will be back, including less,

we will speak to one of the brains

behind self driving cars.

About the brains in self driving

cars, we're going to be talking

about how AI and how it's making

the driverless cars a reality.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

So we have been talking about the

silly jumper season. In case you

hadn't noticed Christmas is around

the corner and prices are going up.

The British public are well into the

swing of festive shopping.

Joining us now is Fraser McKevitt,

head of retail and consumer insight

at Kantar Worldpanel.

You can us through the latest

figures where they indicate the

biggest amount of activity is?

Well,

the overall market is up by 3.1%. It

is at the same run rate it has been

going for at 2017. Supermarkets are

nervously looking forward towards

Christmas because that's a big

trading season for them and shoppers

expect to spend £1.5 billion on the

Friday and Saturday before Christmas

so they have to get it right.

Consumers are feeling the pressure.

Inflation in grocery is currently

running at 3.6% and that's squeezing

budgets so people are having to work

out how them economize.

Will he shop

until we drop on the key dates

before Christmas Day. It is crucial

to the supermarkets profitability in

the New Year?

It's a big question

and we don't really know, but the

indicators are that spending will

continue. Food and drink is not

something you choose not to buy and

the other thing to remember, times

are tough economically for a lot of

people and we want to have a good

Christmas. We want to enjoy

ourselves and spend time and the

money that that requires with our

friends and our family.

Which

retailers do you think will come out

as president winners? Which ones

will come out with the bumper

numbers in the New Year?

You could

divide the market into three easily.

On the one hand we have the discount

retailers in the UK, Aldi and Lidl

and I would expect the growth to

continue over Christmas. Now, they

don't tend to have the highest

market share at Christmas because

people go to the other retailers

more, perhaps some of the more up

market ones, but the discounters

will be shouting about a bumper

Christmas. In the middle we have

everybody else. Where growth is a

little bit difficult. A little bit

sluggish, but Tesco is ahead of

their so-called Big Four rivals and

finally we have online sales. Now

that over the last couple of years

has been a story of extraordinary

growth, but that's slowing.

Thank

you.

You're watching Business Live.

Our top story:

On the two year anniversary

of the 2015 Paris climate accord,

President Emmanuel Macron hosts

new summit in bid to ease

financing crunch for climate

change-fighting measures.

A quick look at how

markets are faring.

A fairly mixed, if not flat,

picture. Traders are treading water

ahead of the conclusion of the US

Federal Reserve's meeting in the US

and then we have the Bank of England

and European Central Bank as well

this week too.

The future of motoring -

we're told - is self-driving cars.

Giants like Google and Tesla

and pumping billions into developing

the tech that will bring us

a driverless future.

At the heart of the technology

is artificial intelligence

and our next guest is hoping

to use his own particular brand

of AI will help his firm steal

a march on his bigger competitors.

He's the boss of FiveAI.

It was founded right

here in the UK in 2015

with the aim of creating a world

beating autonomous vehicle company.

Since then its attracted investment

of almost $27 million.

It may seem like a lot,

but is it enough to compete?

Globally, it's been estimated

that there have been 160 deals

in the last three years alone,

aimed at developing

self-driving vehicles.

And its thought total

investment in that time has

been around $80 billion.

Stan Boland is the boss

of FiveAI and joins me now.

Tell us about what you're doing and

how it's different?

So we're

building the technology that goes

from the sensors in a vehicle to

creating a 3D prospective of what's

around us, the objects, the scene

and then predicting what happens

next and then controlling the

vehicle. So all the software that

goes in the car, the first job we're

doing is building the technology. I

guess how it's different is that

we're assembling talent that exists

in Europe to tackle those problems.

In European cities are very, very

different to American cities so the

technology that your Google or Uber

might develop for the US is simply

not going to work here in Europe and

so we are going technology that

learns about the activities and

objects and behaviours that we see

here in Europe.

So you're building

that tech that will enable a car to

be driverless, not bang into

anything or anyone and get us from A

to B, but you won't licence the tech

to car makers, are you?

No, that's

right. What we're going to do, we're

going to build the technology and

we're going to build the service to

the consumer so the service model is

we pick people up and drop them off

across our cities and we charge them

a fare for thatting. Doing that.

What this means is that the vehicles

we use will buy those vehicles from

vehicle manufacturers and we will

have them assembled with the sensors

and the technology in them.

Already

you have raised quite a bit of

money. We said there $27 million,

but it is more now. It is more since

we've created those figures for our

graphics. You need to raise a lot

more. How are you convincing people

to invest in FiveAI when there are

other, much bigger, more

high-profile competitors out there

that could attract the funding

instead and the interest instead?

One of the things that is needed, it

is such a hard problem, the problem

we're trying to solve is hard. So US

companies are really struggling to

solve this problem as well. So

nobody has got a safe urban driving

capability in any city in the world

today so we are not very different

to any US company. But what it comes

down to talent. Can we find and

assemble the talent and Europe has a

huge amount of talent really. So by

doing this, in a kind of start-up

model in Europe, we can attract that

talent.

How do you attract that

talent when Google, Apple, Facebook

are offering a lot and amazing

bright future?

We offer similar. All

the top talent is joining tech

companies. It's not actually joining

the auto motive sector. So in the

long-term tech companies win and in

the connection of which tech

companies it is more fun to do it in

a start-up company where we can

offer people real shares and equity

ownership of a company and we found

giving people a share of the company

actually tackling the problem that's

close to home is a superattractive

option for people to come and join.

You are talking about the fact that

getting them out on the roads is the

next big step. Do you see a

potential for them to work alongside

human driven vehicles or do you

think it has to be either all of one

or the other?

No, it has got to be

mixed. It will be a long time before

we can have our streets with fully

autonomous or fully self driving

vehicles so we have to operate in a

mixed environment really where our

vehicles are vournded by cyclists,

feds, cars, vans, trucks, and

everything and we will have to

predict what the other road users

are going to. Otherwise our cars end

up stopping all over the city if we

can't predict what's going to happen

next.

Computers tend to make

decisions based on logic, humans not

necessarily. You are hoping to have

ten cars on the road in London in

2019.

That's phase one. At that

stage our company is 200 people and

then after that, we build a service

that we will offer to consumers.

We

will keep an eye on you, FiveAI.

In a moment we'll take a look

through the Business Pages but first

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David is back from HSBC. David,

another story that's interesting.

Five Finance Ministers from across

Europe including Philip Hammond of

the UK, putting together a letter

sent to the US Treasury Secretary

sort of basically saying your tax

reform ideas could breach the

international trade rules.

Interesting scenario, isn't it? A

Pan-European approach?

Yeah, it is a

Pan-European approach and they are

saying this is the counterbalance of

the America first approach that they

say the US has taken. Every country

has sovereignty over its tax. They

are saying they are acting unfairly

and the US and the US is changing

international trade. You know, when

the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 we

were going to have the superb open

world and we are heading for the TPP

and all that's changed now.

The

Trans-Pacific Partnership in Asia.

Yes. Sorry.

It is just interesting

as you say how we've got this kind

of Europe-wide approach and yet it

is unlikely that the US, well the

Trump administration will listen or

even change their tax reform ideas

which is being grappled with in

their own political framework?

Well,

this is a major piece of legislation

and we are looking for another rate

rise by the Fed and the US economy

should do very well. But it does

raise some question Marx and it does

raise question Marx about open trade

in the world and we have seen that

with Brexit. We have gone our own

way so we can't really complain too

much, but some countries are

preferring that and the US says

everyone is running, we are running

a huge current account deficit and

it is unfair and people are cheating

and we need to change things and it

is belligerent and that's not the

kind of story I want to read. I want

to read about love and happiness,

not new trade wars breaking out.

The

next time you come in, I expect to

see you in your silly Christmas

jumper.

That's what we need.

That's it from Business Live today.

It is always good to have your

company. Thanks for being with us.

See you soon.