World Business Report

The countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - represent 40% of the world's population and a third of global output. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro praised the 'memorandum of understanding' between the nations, but what else was on the conference agenda? We speak to Oliver Stuekel, assistant professor of international relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo. And Susan Schmidt of Aviva Investors in Chicago brings us up to date with the day's activity on Wall Street.

In the fight against climate change, some see potential in elephant grass as a clean fuel. Stefano Romano is chief executive of NextFuel, a Swedish company which turns elephant grass into fuel briquettes, and explains the idea. Professor Araya Asfaw is a sustainable energy specialist at Addis Ababa University, and considers whether power plants in Africa could switch to being fueled with elephant grass. And we hear from Susanna Barth of Ireland's Agriculture and Food Development Agency whether the idea has potential in Ireland, where it's estimated a third of the county's electricity generation needs could be met by planting 10% of arable land with elephant grass. Also in the programme, Germany has narrowly avoided falling into recession. The BBC's Damien McGuinness has taken a walk down a busy shopping street in Berlin to gauge the health of the German economy. Plus, gender equality group The Fawcett Society is calling for women to have the right to know what male counterparts are earning if they suspect pay discrimination. Dr Zara Nanu is chief executive of consultancy Gapsquare, and explains how her firm uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to help clients find and reduce their pay gaps.

The Dutch government is reducing the daytime maximum speed limit from 130km/h to 100km/h from next year in an attempt to reduce emissions. We speak to Bram van Liere from Friends of the Earth. And Peter Jankovskis of Oakbrook Investments in Chicago tells us what's been happening today on Wall Street.

What can governments and agencies do to minimise the impact of extreme weather on Africa? Dr Hassan Mohamed at the National Humanitarian Coordination Center in Somalia tells us the way repeated dry spells are hitting farmers and livestock herders is making resilience impossible. Robson Mutandi of the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Mozambique makes the case that the increasing frequency of droughts and intense rainfall in Africa is an existential emergency. And Lydia Zigomo of Oxfam International discusses possible mitigation for extreme weather events. Also in the programme, Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal explains the dilemma faced by clothing companies who discover the cotton in their clothes comes from Xinjiang in China, where the ethnic Uighur population has been subjected to a state-run programme of mass incarceration and what Beijing calls deradicalisation. Plus car maker Tesla has announced the construction of its first European factory in the German capital, Berlin. Steve Fowler of Auto Express has been speaking with Tesla boss Elon Musk, and tells us how big a deal this expansion into Europe is for the company.

As the entertainment giant rolls out its new streaming service, we examine how much of a game-changer this could be for online video services. Plus, the Dow Jones ended trading precisely where it began the day, for the first time since April 2014. Joe Saluzzi has an overview of the day on Wall Street.