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Business Daily meets: Konrad Bergstrom

Business Daily meets: Konrad Bergstrom

Konrad Bergstrom comes from a family of seafarers. And as a business leader, he wants to make navigating the seas environmentally friendly. His business, X Shore, has been dubbed "the Tesla of the seas".

Konrad is now considered one of Sweden's leading entrepreneurs, having also founded Zound industries - the tech company that produces electronics for Marshall Amplification and Adidas.

But it's not all been plain sailing for the businessman.

In this edition of Business Daily, Leanna Byrne finds out how a boy selling hot dogs in his home town went from windsurfer to entrepreneur; how he overcame business failure; and how a business disagreement led Konrad back to his home - the sea.

(Picture: Konrad Bergstrom. Credit: Getty Images)

Presented and produced by Leanna Byrne

Is the corporate world too close to COP?

Is the corporate world too close to COP?

Greenhouse gas levels have never been higher. If we're to limit global warming, businesses have a crucial role to play because they operate in sectors that need to radically change, like energy, transport and finance.

Thousands of company bosses are touching down in Dubai for this year's COP28 climate change talks. But environmentalists claim many businesses are not acting fast enough.

They're increasingly concerned about the growing number of fossil fuel companies attending these summits. Are they right to be worried?

(Picture: COP28 venue ahead of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Expo City Dubai. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Lexy O'Connor

Can China stop its love affair with coal?

Can China stop its love affair with coal?

It’s the world’s largest user of coal fired energy, and the biggest polluter.

However, China is also the world’s biggest producer of green energy. How can it reconcile the two and keep its next zero promises?

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: Lexy O'Connor

(Image: Thermal power and solar power in Shanghai. Two power generation methods in one photo. Credit: Getty Images)

Asia's air pollution problem

Asia's air pollution problem

It’s the week of the Climate Change Conference or COP28, and as leaders from around the world meet in the UAE to talk about how to tackle global warming, we take a look at one urgent issue: air pollution.

According to World Health Organisation data, nearly seven million lives are lost prematurely each year due to harmful air.

In this edition. Devina Gupta explores the air problem affecting major cities in Asia - to the cities of Delhi, Lahore, Taipei and Jakarta - to find out how lives and livelihoods are being impacted, and what can be done.

(Picture: The Swaminarayan Akshardham temple under a thick layer of smog in Delhi, India. Credit: Harish Tyagi/Shutterstock)

Presented and produced by Devina Gupta.

Why is Spain betting on green hydrogen?

Why is Spain betting on green hydrogen?

Spain is trying to position itself as the centre of renewable energy production in Europe, particularly in green hydrogen.

The country already boasts one of the first centres worldwide where green hydrogen is produced.

But while it rushes headlong with several projects in the pipeline, we examine the economic viability and the impact of producing green hydrogen.

(Image: A green hydrogen manufacturing facility. Credit: Iberdrola)

Presented and produced by Ashish Sharma

Who is Sultan Al-Jaber?

Who is Sultan Al-Jaber?

We find out why he's a controversial appointment for the COP28 presidency.

Sultan Al Jaber’s appointment has been widely questioned because he’s also the boss of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company Adnoc.

But supporters point to his work as founder of the green energy giant Masdar.

Is he compromised or uniquely qualified?

We speak to people who’ve interviewed him, worked with him, and can give us the inside track.

Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Lexy O'Connor

(Image: Sultan Al-Jaber. Credit: Getty Images)

The world's longest subsea power cable

The world's longest subsea power cable

They are the cables that run along the sea bed to move power where it’s needed for a cheaper price.

Business Daily’s Rick Kelsey goes to the site of The Viking Link - the longest one ever built - just before it goes live between the UK and Demark.

We’ll be hearing what these cables may do for our electricity costs and how safe they are from sabotage. Rebecca Sedler Managing Director for NG Interconnectors tells us how it will save people money, and engineer Oliver Kitching spent four weeks on the cable laying vessel at sea. We also here from the Danish engineers who often have too much power available, plus Dhara Vyas from Energy UK discusses concerns around sabotage.

Presented and produced by Rick Kelsey.

Image: The Viking power cable. Credit: National Grid)

Kimchi: Korean food goes global

Kimchi: Korean food goes global

Kimchi, the tangy fermented vegetable dish, is now being made and sold around the world.

South Korea’s kimchi export value has risen dramatically in the past few years, going far beyond Asia. And it's consumed by not only overseas Koreans but by the locals too.

While kimchi remains a distinctly Korean dish, in recent years, those with little to no connection to the country have been producing and selling kimchi.

What is behind the rise?

In this edition, David Cann looks into the growing popularity of the dish; speaking to kimchi experts, traders and producers.

Presented and produced by David Cann.

(Picture: Kimchi being made at a traditional market in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji)

How to spot a diamond

How to spot a diamond

When is a diamond really a diamond?

When it’s been formed miles underground a billion years ago, or when has it been created in a laboratory, under temperatures close to the heat of the sun? The answer is – both are true. They look and behave exactly the same, but they are very different in price.

The lab-grown diamonds are marketed as kinder to the environment, and they are far cheaper - and that’s led to concern about whether the two kinds have been mixed together, with man-made stones passed off as natural. So, what is the industry doing to give consumers confidence?

(Picture: Close up of man putting engagement ring on girlfriend. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Barbara George

Disruption in the diamond sector

Disruption in the diamond sector

A few years ago you could have assumed all diamonds had been dug out of the ground – but now it’s true that some of them have been created, at unbelievably high temperatures, in just a matter of weeks.

In the first of two Business Daily programmes about the evolving diamond market, Lesley Curwen heads to the glamorous jewellery district of Hatton Garden in London – to see how the jewellery world is being re-shaped by the mass production of laboratory-made stones.

We hear from India how they’re created in temperatures as hot as the sun - and talk to one of the world’s biggest jewellery brands about why they are using only man-made diamonds.

We also look at claims that man-made diamonds are the green and ethical choice.

(Picture: Tweezers holding a diamond. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Barbara George

Business Daily meets: Cycling boss Doug Ryder

Business Daily meets: Cycling boss Doug Ryder

The South African former pro rider set up his cycling team in 2007. As MTN Qhubeka they became the first-ever African registered team to ride the Tour de France.

He talks about the challenges of putting together a team from scratch - and the steep learning curve he faced moving from cycling to managing.

After a successful stint on the world stage, a combination of financial and sponsorship problems lead to the team, which by then had gone through multiple name changes, being disbanded in 2021.

Doug Ryder has now put a new team together – we catch up with him at the Q36.5 Pro Cycling HQ in the Netherlands.

Produced and presented by Matthew Kenyon

(Image: Doug Ryder. Credit: BBC)

Argentina goes to the polls

Argentina goes to the polls

There are two candidates: one is the current economy minister who has a wealth of experience in power; the other is a maverick libertarian economist who wants to ditch the country’s currency, the peso, and strip the central bank of its ability to print money.

We speak to his senior economic advisor, and also to a wine producer from the western province of Mendoza, who tells us about the challenges of doing business in a country with two exchange rates, severe restrictions on imports, a heavy tax burden and a shrinking economy.

And we speak to voters in Buenos Aires about what they want from their next president in a nation which seems to lurch from one economic crisis to the next.

Picture: Composite image of Javier Milei (Credit: Luis Robayo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) and Sergio Massa (Credit: Tomas Cuesta/Reuters) in front of an Argentinian flag (Credit: Carl Recine/Reuters)

Presented and produced by Gideon Long

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