>>abirached: this week on world business >>: in the run up to the copenhagen conference on climatehange we have the first part of a new series looking at the people studying and facing the realities of global warming >>: the entire world that we live in will change. and that is going to impact all aspects of our civilization. >>: and we will also meet the companies working to find a solution, starting with the chinese firm that is a shining light in the field of solar power. >>: china has made a decision at a very high level that clean energy is the future. they are already poised to be the number one makers of solar cells >>fortier: the arctic is melting, it is melting much faster than we thought. >>: what we've seen for the last sixty years is a rapid warming of the arctic world and the most spectacular symptom maybe is the regression, the decline of the sea ice cover in the arctic ocean. there isa central pack ice which is permanent which has been there for millions of years and we are fearingnow that it might disappear entirely over the coming century. >>: scientists are already warning the politicians that it might be a four degree increase and between four and eight degrees, the entire world that we live in will change. and that is going to impact all aspects of our civilization. not only transportation but the way we grow food, profitability willchange, countries that are rich will become poor and countries that are poor will become rich. >>: it is the geopolitical tension, it's the war and the conflicts that will be generated by this situation that are of concern, for us, but mostly for the coming generations. one direct impact on the warming of the arctic world will be the destabilization of the greenland inland cyst. that's the immense glacier that covers greenland. in some areas it's almost three kilometers thick and most of it is above sea level. so as it melts and as it starts to flow into the atlantic and the arctic ocean, the level of the ocean all over the world will rise quickly. and that represents a lot of problems. if you raise sea level by two meters, close to twenty percentof the population of the globe has to move. and this is the big concern of geo-politicians at this time. it is where will these people go? this will bring a lot of conflicts and problems. >>: arctic net is a network of centers of excellence. >>: one of the main tools that we use is the research ice-breaker, amundsen, which can bring up to fortyscientists in the arctic to study all aspects of the arctic. >>: the research is telling us that things are changing faster than expect in the arctic. and most important we see changes inhe life cycle, the migrations of the fauna, of the animals that live there. >>: climate change will occur, it will happen. the impact will be major on our society, our civilization. but if we were to start to do things now very quickly, stop procrastinating and do things, then i think we could avoid the worst of it. >>abirached: hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight in the global business trends shaping our lives. a powerful statement by louis fortier, scientific director at articnet; one of our witnesses working on the frontline of climate change. over the next three weeks - in the lead-up to cop 15, the all-important united nations climate change conference in copenhagen- world business will not only introduce you to the people who are witnessing the impact of climatechange first-hand... but also to the companies that have pledged and implemented carbon cutting initiatives. our first report begins in china... which has recently overtaken the u.s. as the world's biggest polluter. >>reporter: welcome to china solar valley. located 300 kilometres south of beijing in the city of dezhou (duh-joh)... this is china's showpiecefor a sustainable future. it boasts numerous records... including the world's largest solar power building, the world's longest street lit by photovoltaics... and the world's largest manufacturing base for solar thermal. in fact, nearly 70% of the city is powered the sun. the project is spearheaded by huang ming, founder and chairman of himin (high-min), the world's largest maker of solar water heaters. >>sager: the eye-catching headquarters of himin's sun moon mansion is the gateway to china solar valley. today himin produces more than double the amount of solar water heaters than the u.s. and canada combined. and it all started with a dream. >>ming: this sun moon mansion indicates my dreams to promote solar energy into all the buildings of the world. >>reporter: ming used to work for what can now be considered the enemy. a former oil equipment engineer... his epiphany took place when his daughter was born and he realized her future was uncertain in a world relying on finite fossil fuels. >>so he was he started moonlighting... building solar water heaters eventually giving up his job andstarting commercial production in 1995. today himin is a $300 million company with 60,000 employees. >>: costing less than $300 the heaters are springing up on rooftops all over china... residential and office buildings, schools and hotels. >>dong: traditional fossil fuel energy will be exhausted very soon. so this hotel is using solar water heaters, which saves about 50% energy. it is clean and will help solve the problems of the environment. it will improve the climate greatly. >>reporter: ming set another milestone... building the first solar powered 5-star hotel... adjacent to the himinheadquarters... >>sager: in total, how much less energy will be used by this hotel? >>min: 90 percent. >>reporter: known in china as the solar king... ming's dream is to power china and the world with the inexhaustible energy of the sun. >>ming: we want to tell the world that green energy will not only benefit the environment, benefit the energy supplies but also benefit our lifestyle, everyday life, benefit the appearance of our buildings, our towns, our cities. >>reporter: and thus, china solar valley was born in 2003... a case study for sustainable living. >>romm: china has made a decision at a very high level that clean energy is the future. they are already poised to be the number one maker of solar cells, the number one manufacturer of wind turbines. they are already the number one makers of solar hot water heaters and they want to be the leader in electric cars and batteries. so yes, the game is on absolutely. >>reporter: and it comes at a critical time. according to a mckinsey study, over the next 20 years, china's cities will add over 350illion people... more than the entire population of the u.s. today... putting pressure on energy, water, land and the environment. >>: while companies like himin solely focus on solar and energy-saving products... increasingly other companies around the world are stepping up to help reduce their carbon footprint as well. >>bhatia: businesses have to position themselves, have to distinguish themselves, i think, in front of investors as well as consumers. and this trend has been picking up in the last 5 to 7 years tremendously. >>reporter: nike... whose biggest production base is in china... was one of the early movers... setting up its 're-use a shoe' programme 20 years ago. the company has recycled over 23 million pairs of shoes turning them into more than 300 sports surfaces. >>vogel: our future vision is to take old sneakers, grind them up and turn them into new shoes. because what we want to do is to create products without continuing to tap into the earth's resources. >>reporter: as general manager of nike considered... vogel is tasked to reduce the environmental footprint of nike products. by using recycled materials, nike has managed to reduce its energy footprint by up to 50%. a key step towards 'closed loop' manufacturing is the considered index... evaluating materials, waste, solvent and garment treatment. it starts with the design process and trickles down to manufacturing and the nsumers, who return their shoes and clothes to be recycled. >>vogel: we want 100% of all footwear to be considered by 2011 and 100% of all apparel by 2015. and just to put that into perspective, that would mean overall in footwear we would have a 17% reduction in waste, we'd have a 20% increase in use of environmentally preferred material. >>reporter: making the company less dependent on scarce resources like petroleum or water. >>: it's not just about a green product line... but a change of mindset. nike is embracing sustainability... from its headquarters in portland, oregon - in part solar powered and in harmony with nature -to its on-site wind farm in belgium. >>severn: we worked with the world wildlife fund to reduce emissions in our own operations by 18% between 1998and 2001 and they really helped us get going. and while we were doing that we looked at renewable energy opportunities as well. and the opportunity arose in belgium to put windmills on the site there. we have 6 windmills generating the energy that more than covers the actual energy used by the facility. >>reporter: and if a $19 billion behemoth is able to change... it sends a message to the corporate world. >>severn: we see this birth of a low-carbon economy as a huge transition from what was really an industrial model to something that is going to be based on low-carbon in world of constraint. and we need innovation. and constraint is often one of the best ways to get innovation. >>reporter: impacting future generations and consumers... whether they'll be wearing recycled sneakers or benefit from clean energy. >>yu: there are lots of environmental problems such as the melting of the glaciers. we know that if we do not stop this, the earth will be in a critical situation. it is our generation's mission and task tostop this. >>reporter: a seiment the corporate world of today has begun to echo. >>abirached: still to come on world business... >>abirached: tighter trade ties, why italy and india are becoming firm friends >>: we ask the delegates at the european leadership forum in london how the flagging economies of europecan revive themselves and compete with the rebounding emerging markets of asia. >>: the west stagnates as the east accelerates... and the rest in just a moment on world business... >>abirached: as regulators across the g20 countries consider imposing some of the strictest rules on the financial sector in decades spokesmen for the industry have launched a counter-attack. they warn too much regulation could hamper any meaningful economic recovery, especially in europe where economic growth even in countries that have emerged from recession is anaemic at best. >>: the uk - still in recession and at risk of losing its triple a status spain still in recession - with 5 straight quarters of negative growth even the stars of europe, france and germany, have very weak growth at 0.3 and 0.7 percent respectively. of its financial sector. so how important is europe's financial sector? well here in the uk it represents around 9 percent ofgdp, 15 percent of all tax revenue. on top of that, before the economic crisis struck, the city of london provided around 30 percent of all new economic growth. reporter: in france and germany it's around 6 percent and was growing rapidly until the financial crisis. their proportion of gdp almost doubling over the past 15 years. >>: faced with the prospect of major of regulation that could further hamper the sector, bankers, economists and investors went on the attack at the european leadership forum in london. around 6 percent and was growing rapidly until the financial crisis. their proportionf gdp almost doubling over the past 15 years. >>: faced with the prospect of major of regulation that could further hamper the sector, bankers, economists and investors went on the attack at the european leadership forum in london. their concern - over regulation will hammer any chances of real recovery. attracting international banking stimulates the economy, provides jobs pays taxes and i think the city of london is an iortant part of this economy. so i would hate to see activity being pushed offshore by the uk acting out of step with the other economies of the world. >>: in fact it's already happening. to some extent we are already seeing that with the hedge funds. with some resources moving to switzerland in part perhaps in response to the tax regime in the uk. i think it's a very risky thing. the banks may not be popular now - but they are necessary, any regulation which too heavily restricts risk and ties up cash in safety holdings will have a knock on effect for the wider economy. hsbc holdings was one of the few banking institutions not to go to the british government for a cashinjection to stay afloat. it's now taking the lead in the fight back against over-regulation. the danger is going over the top with risk aversion, loading more costs on to the system in a way that will impede and stifle economic growth. getting that balance right is all important for all of us. >>reporter: but there is a flipside lloyds of london is well aware of - the implications of too much risk, having been caught out twice in the last two decades with too little liquidity during emergencies. now regulators working across the eu are drawing up new guidelines known as solvency 2 to ensure majors insurers don't take the kind of risk that can put them out of business but allows them to operate in a competitive market. >>ward: we need to work with regulators to ensure that the regulation we have is appropriate for our business - that we don't have too much capital. if you have too much capital then you are not going to getyour returns and capital is going to go elsewhere. so it's about getting the balance right. >>reporter: at recent g20 meetgs however a consensus is growing after the initial anger at massive bonuses forfailing bank chiefs that regulation must not now apar to be a backlash knee jerk reaction. >>diaz-gimenez: when you are regulating in the heat of things that is not a good thing. its going to take slow careful thought, a lot of discussions. we are going to make some mistakes along the way. but i guess that is the way of the markets. >>reporter: but time is a luxury they don't have, while europe flounders and dithers, other parts of the world are rebounding from recession. the world bank says china's economy is expected to grow by 8 percent this year - growth that will accelerate again next year. indonesia is forecast around 4 percent and india above six percent. there could also be other lessons to learn from asia - it had to sort out the mess from its own financial crisis a decade ago. the region now is buoyed by international investors attracted by the stable financial environment. if you look at the banking system for example we have gone through some restructuring and there is acertain amount of government intervention in managing the financial rvice sector that has become very stable and has become very much acceptable to investors. economists say that one of the great leadership failures of the great depression of the 1930s was too little iernational co-ordinated action - that's a mistake current leaders would overlook at their peril. >>abirached: virtually all western economies, as they fight their way out of the economic crisis, have realized the growing importance of increasing trade with emerging economies like brazil and india. but only one, italy, has come up with the idea of selling not just country to country; but also region to region. we report on italy's unique trade mission to india. >>: india, a country of more than a billion people, has a middle class estimated at anything between 3 and 4 hundred million. they are probably the most economically dynamic group on the planet. they are also among the most aspirational. it is not surprising then that the made in italy brand already hasa strong foothold in the subcontinent upmarket shopping malls. >>vattani: for italy, and particularly for the italian trade commission, the emerging markets are a tremendous opportunity. looking at the world, the crisis hasn't hit them in the same way it has crippled some other economies. >>reporter: to help seize those opportunities italy is making a trade visit to india in mid-december. >>: but not just any old trade visit. meetings are scheduled with a cross-section of leading indian industrialists and politicians and the italian delegation will contain representatives from eight italian regions and companies from across business sectors. >>vattani: we'll be going to india with some of the most extraordinary sectors of excellence of the italian economy and one hundred and seventy companies representing in their own right some of the cutting edge technology which italy is proud of. >>urso: we wanted to involve the italian regions because we are aware of how diverse india is, with different regions. each region excels in a business sector - such as logistics and infrastructure, and machinery and tools. >>reporter: what we already export to india are tools, machinery and italian technology as well as the 'sectors of excellence' represented by the phrase 'made in italy' - which is very sought after by the growingindian middle-class. >>: so, the plan is that region shall talk to - and do business with - region. >>: one italian sector that already has a strong foothold in india is fashion. >>: it's an important sector - here in the marche region alone it employs 22,000 people. >>: for companies such as tombolini menswear increasing exports is now seen as critical. >>tombolini: for us it is extremely important, we export 60% of our turnover, both in developed and emerging markets, the latter representing the most important focus of our strategy for the future. we have identified three big areas, china, south america, especially brazil and argentina, and india. it's here weare going to concentrate our resources and energy in the future. >>reporter: it's family-run bunesses like tombolinis that are, according to many, the reason that regions likethe marche are weathering the economic crisis relatively well. >>spacca: in this respect our enterprises are much more stable and solid, because they are tied up to the lifeobjectives of the individual entrepreneur and not to the world of finance, or market dynamics and fluctuations. >>reporter: food and beverages is another sector that does well for italy. and although india now has its own vineyards they still look to countries like france and italy to provide high-quality sought-after wines. >>: franco batzella and his wife khanh nguyen has been making wine here in tuscany since 2003. >>: they produce around 50,000 bottles a year and although, so far, they have sold out each year, they're aware they also have to woo the emerging markets. >>batzella: very important. they are an untapped market which are discovering the beauty of variety in wine. andwhat we have to offer to these markets are products which represent a surprise to the buyer and in these markets buyers are new to wine but there's so many of them that little by little a lot of themwill discover the magic of wine. >>brenna: the way we compete as tuscany it is not through costs, we will never produce cheap products with no soul, with no social and territorial roots. that is why agriculture is so important, not only to manage the land, but also to use these products as our ambassadors to the world. wine certainly has a great image: we export 500 million euros of wine related products, 40% to the us, but there are new markets that are increasingly appreciating the quality of tuscan produce. >>reporter: the italians going on december's trade mission to the new market of india have decided to sell themselves on quality - on family - as a nation of regions - not just because they are, but also because india is as well. >>verri: it's very important to understand some particularity coming from the region. not all the regions arethe same in the same state. it happen in piedmont, it happen in campania, it happen in puglia for italy. it happens for the region of bangalore or new delhi in india for sure. i've been there a couple of times and saw there are very strong differences to invest or to have a relationship with a state like new delhi that is very institutional or somewhere that is more commercial and technology high-profile like bangalore. >>reporter: it's not one-way traffic. the indians too see the opportunities. >>sharma: italy is an important partner, bi-laterally, not only as a member of the eu, it is an important country. we have cross investments; we have increasing trade between the two countries. that is said, given the strengths of the industry. the manufacturing industry, the engineering, the automobile in both our countries and some competitive advantages that india has in pharmaceuticals, in it, in communication it could be a mutually rewarding engagement. no country would engage, particularly businesspeople, in such large numbers - unless and until they see the potential and the benefits. >>reporter: for italy - india is a way not only to get through the economic crisis, but a place to expand in thefuture. for india, the italian visit is further confirmation that they're now firmly ensconced on the economic top table. >>abirached: that's it for this week's world business. thanks for watching. we'll see you again at the same time next week.