This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.

This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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Mark Carney likes to talk green, but he’s just another agent of the status quo

By: []

Date: 2021-11

Mark Carney, the rockstar central banker and heartthrob of global finance who assembled a Financial Alliance at COP26 yesterday, likes to stay busy. Since completing his tenure as governor of the Bank of England in March 2020, the 56-year-old Canadian has taken on a glittering array of roles: UN special envoy for climate action and finance; finance adviser to the UK’s COP26 presidency; vice chair at Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest ‘alternative’ investment companies on earth; and board member at Stripe, an Irish-American fintech firm. In December, Carney delivered the BBC’s prestigious Reith Lectures. In March, he published a book, ‘Value(s): Building A Better World For All’.

In Glasgow yesterday, he announced that coalition of banks worth $130trn had agreed to put climate change at the centre of their work – a pledge many have questioned, as it fails to include any kind of commitment to stop financing the extraction of fossil fuels, which the International Energy Agency says must happen by the end of this year.

All this activity serves a purpose. According to the Canadian media, Carney is plotting a bid for high office. In April, he confirmed his political allegiances by pledging to do ‘whatever’ he could to advance the incumbent Liberal Party’s prospects ahead of the Canadian general election, which was held on 20 September. Whatever he could, as it turned out, wasn’t very much. After an anaemic campaign, the incumbent Liberals gained just five seats – not enough to secure a majority – leaving the career of prime minister Justin Trudeau in gridlock. If and when Trudeau goes, Carney, who spent five years running Canada's central bank before moving to London in 2013, will be well placed to succeed him.
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