China, the US and India remain by far the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2). However, on a per capita basis, the oil producing nations of the Arabian Peninsula and the coal-reliant people of Mongolia produce more CO2 per head than anyone else in the world. Meanwhile, Australians, Americans and Canadians all make the top 10.
On Tuesday (8 Feb) the California-based chip giant Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank Group announced in a joint statement that they had agreed to abandon the former’s proposed $40bn acquisition of the UK chip-design specialist Arm, after US regulators raised antitrust concerns.
When initially announced in September 2020, the deal stood to have been the biggest ever in the chip industry.
Although the nominal value of the deal had since risen in line with Nvidia’s booming share price, the US Federal Trade Commission de-railed the deal in December when it sued to block the transaction on the grounds that it would grant Nvidia unlawful control over technology and designs needed by its rivals to produce similar chips.
SoftBank now stands to pocket a $1.25bn breakup fee from the failed transaction and has announced it intends to revive its IPO plans for the Cambridge-based chip designer whose clientele includes the likes of Apple, Qualcomm and Advanced Micro Devices.
On Tuesday (8 Feb) the UK oil major BP announced a $4.1bn profit for the final quarter of 2021. This took annual profits to an eight-year high of $12.8bn (£9.45bn) in 2021 thanks to
surging global energy prices.
Last week, Shell reported a quadrupling of 2021 profits to $19.3bn for similar reasons while SSE, the electricity generator and network company, this week upgraded its profit forecast to nearly £1bn for its latest financial year as soaring gas prices more than made up for its disappointing renewable energy output.
The huge profits come in the face of UK household energy bills that are set to increase 54% from April, with the average UK annual bill rising by £700 to £1,971. The news prompted renewed calls for a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies. “BP and Shell are raking in billions from the gas price crisis while enjoying one of the most favourable tax regimes in the world for offshore drillers,” said Greenpeace’s UK head of climate, Kate Blagojevic. “This isn’t right,” she added.
