People & Profit

This week, we're heading to the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC 2025) for a conversation with Gaurav Sharma, an independent energy analyst also know on social media as the "Oilholic". As temperatures are rising, so is energy demand. What does that mean for fossil fuels? And how will AI reshape the future of energy? We put these questions and more to our guest.

Volatile weather affecting harvests, uncertainty in global trade and rising production costs could soon make everyday treats like coffee, tea and chocolate a luxury. But are the farmers growing them getting a fair share of the price surge? Yuka Royer discusses this and more with Jason Archie-Acheampong, sustainable sourcing lead for coffee and cocoa at the Fairtrade Foundation. 
 

This week, Charles Pellegrin talks to Jaco Cilliersd, the UN development programme's representative for Palestine about the arduous task of trying to clear the millions of tonnes of rubbles from Gaza and preparing the stage for reconstruction amid a tenuous ceasefire. 

This week, we take a look at the renewable energy sector, specifically in China at a time when solar and wind power have surpassed coal in global electricity generation, according to a report by climate think tank Ember. Charles Pellegrin speaks to Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, the report's author and senior electricity analyst.

Was the "Argentina miracle" that Javier Milei boasted about really a miracle? As the libertarian president approaches his third year in office, and with midterm elections around the corner on October 26, we take a closer look at Argentina's economy with Juan Ignacio Carranza, lead analyst at Aurora Macro Strategies in Buenos Aires.

This week, we focus on the Zucman tax. Named after French economist Gabriel Zucman, the proposal targets the ultra-wealthy and is the French left's answer to the country's public finance woes. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has already rejected it, but has acknowledged the desire for more fiscal justice in France. To help us better understand why this tax has come about and what it hopes to achieve, Charles Pellegrin is joined by Giulia Varaschin, policy advisor at the EU Tax Observatory, of which Gabriel Zucman is the director. 

Brazil, under the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is now the target of tariffs of up to 50 percent on most of its goods heading to the United States. Brazilian businesses are looking to the Chinese market to make up for losses in the US market. But can China fill that gap for the Brazilian economy? Charles Pellegrin speaks to Tulio Cariello, director of research at the Brazil-China Business Council. Plus, our reporters met with coffee producers in Brazil who are trying to reduce their reliance on the US.

This week saw another prime minister gone in France. François Bayrou submitted his resignation on Tuesday after losing a confidence vote in parliament. He had gambled on a budget demanding over €40 billion in savings. The plan would have frozen welfare benefits, cut civil-service jobs and scrapped two public holidays. President Emmanuel Macron then named Sébastien Lecornu, a longtime ally, as France's new prime minister to pick up the mantle of trying to pass a budget through a divided parliament. So where does the country's economy stand now? Charles Pellegrin discusses this and more with Alexandra Roulet, associate professor of economics at INSEAD. 

This week we zero in on the military tech sector in Ukraine with our correspondent Gulliver Cragg and Kateryna Bondar, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, an improvised industry of defence tech startups has surged, and technology – particularly drones – has helped Kyiv to hold the line against Moscow. But the country currently lacks the funding to scale production. Meanwhile the Kremlin is catching up, rapidly growing its domestic production of Shahed drones.  

This week, we are at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris – not for the French Open tennis tournament, but to meet business leaders who are gathered for the annual end-of-summer conference of Medef, France's largest employers' federation. This year's theme "Jeu décisif" is a tennis metaphor meaning "tie-break", reflecting the decisive moment businesses are facing. From Donald Trump's trade war to political instability in the country, how do French entrepreneurs plan to navigate through another year of geopolitical uncertainty? FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer has been finding out.