Financial Times (September 15)
Internal combustion engines “are on their way out,” while sales of EVs “are set to increase worldwide from about 10mn in 2022 to about 14mn in 2023, or 18 per cent of all cars sold.” This partly explains legacy carmakers low valuations, but the switch also lowers barriers to entry. “Chinese imports already account for about 15 per cent of EVs sold on the continent,” with Chinese automakers hoping to seize more of “a $130bn revenue opportunity by 2030.”
Tags: $130bn, Barriers to entry, China, EVs, Ice, Imports, Legacy carmakers, Opportunity, Revenue, Sales, Valuations
Scientific American (January 25)
“In the 1990s, the world was losing around 800 billion metric tons of ice each year. Today, that number has risen to around 1.2 trillion tons. Altogether, the planet lost a whopping 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017.”
CNN (March 25)
“Scientists have been more concerned about West Antarctica, where the ice has been melting faster in recent years.” They are now realizing East Antarctica brings perils as well, especially the Denman Glacier. This “giant glacier” has already “retreated almost three miles” and if it “fully thaws, sea levels would rise almost 5 feet.”
Tags: Denman Glacier, East Antarctica, Ice, Melting, Perils, Retreated, Scientists, Thaws, West Antarctica
Scientific American (February 4)
“Even if ambitious climate targets are met, Himalayan glaciers could lose a third of their volume.” The Earth’s “third pole” is in danger of largely melting away. “If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current levels, the region could lose as much as two-thirds of its ice.”
Tags: "Third pole”, Ambitious, Climate targets, Earth, Emissions, GHG, Glaciers, Himalayas, Ice, Melting
The Economist (April 29)
“Those who doubt the power of human beings to change Earth’s climate should look to the Arctic, and shiver…. In the past 30 years, the minimum coverage of summer ice has fallen by half; its volume has fallen by three-quarters. On current trends, the Arctic ocean will be largely ice-free in summer by 2040.”
Institutional Investor (March 29)
“The LSE and Deutsche Börse have tried to merge twice before, but both attempts ended in acrimony.” This time looks different, but it’s still far from certain. “U.S. predators are lurking, with Atlanta-headquartered Intercontinental Exchange saying it’s considering an offer for LSE; there’s also talk that Chicago-based CME Group and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing could enter the fray and spark a global bidding war.”
Tags: Bidding war, CME Group, Deutsche Börse, Hong Kong, Ice, LSE, Merge, Predators, U.S.
New York Times (April 20, 2013)
“The central Arctic Ocean has been covered in ice for eons, but under the influence of global warming, nearly half of it is now open water for part of the year.” Humans must now step up with a treaty to protect this fragile ecosystem, which includes some of Earth’s last untouched fishing stocks. “No matter how severe, how austere, the Arctic may seem in our imaginations, it is almost unbelievably fragile, as are many of the species newly exposed under what is now open water. It is time, now, to intercede and protect this environmental oasis.”
Tags: Arctic Ocean, Environment, Fishing, Fragile, Global warming, Humans, Ice, Species
New York Times (December 23)
The proposed acquisitions of NYSE Euronext by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and Knight Capital Group by Getco both “reflect the demise of traditional stock-exchange trading. The equities market has been eclipsed by the global market in derivatives, and human traders have been increasingly replaced by computers programmed to profit from split-second price anomalies.” Regulators have not kept pace with this change. “The mergers should remain on the drawing board unless and until regulators can reassure the public that the newly created companies will operate not only for private gain, but in the public interest as well.”
Tags: Derivatives, Equities, Getco, High-speed trading, Ice, Knight Capital, Mergers, NYSE Euronext, Regulation
Wall Street Journal (December 22)
“How is it that a derivatives trading platform younger than Justin Bieber is about to acquire the New York Stock Exchange, which traces its Wall Street lineage to 1792? Thursday’s announcement that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will buy NYSE Euronext for about $8 billion is in part the story of a tech-savvy upstart that quickly grew to eclipse established giants.”
Tags: Acquisition, Derivatives, Ice, NYSE, Technology, Wall Street
The Economist (September 24)
Arctic ice is disappearing faster than previously thought. The ice is now estimated to be just half as thick as it was 1979 “and there is probably less ice floating on the Arctic Ocean now than at any time since a particularly warm period 8,000 years ago, soon after the last ice age.” Models had predicted that summer ice would disappear by century end. Instead “at current rates of shrinkage… this looks likely to happen some time between 2020 and 2050.”
Arctic ice is disappearing faster than previously thought. The ice is now estimated to be just half as thick as it was 1979 “and there is probably less ice floating on the Arctic Ocean now than at any time since a particularly warm period 8,000 years ago, soon after the last ice age.” Models had predicted that summer ice would disappear by century end. Instead “at current rates of shrinkage… this looks likely to happen some time between 2020 and 2050.”
http://www.economist.com/node/21530079
Tags: Arctic, Global warming, Ice, Summer