Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.
As a former central banker on two continents, Canada’s Mark Carney has honed the dark art of haranguing and arm-twisting members of the global investment community better than almost anyone.
But his latest task, as the United Nations’ special envoy on climate action and finance, involved some pretty daunting numbers.
Carney, who headed up the Bank of Canada and then the Bank of England between 2008 and 2020, was tasked to find more than $100 trillion US in capital from the global financial community to help drive the transformation of the world’s economy from fossil fuels to a new age powered by clean energy.
“It’s a mammoth transition,” Carney told CBC News at COP26, the UN’s climate change conference, in Glasgow, Scotland.
“It’s absolutely enormous. It’s bigger than global GDP.”
Have questions about COP26 or climate science, policy or politics? Email us at ask@cbc.ca, or let us know in the comments. Your input helps inform our coverage.
On Wednesday, designated finance day at the Glasgow conference, Carney announced success, of sorts.
“We have banks, asset managers, pension funds, insurance companies from around the world — more than 45 countries — and their total resources, totalling $130 trillion US,” said Carney, $30 trillion more than the target.
“So one of the key messages of this COP is: the money is there.”
The Conference of Parties (COP), as it’s known, meets every year and is the global decision-making body set up in the 1990s to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequent climate agreements.
Agreement leaves out big emitters
Carney says more than 450 firms — including Canada’s big five chartered banks — have committed to supporting the goals of what’s become known as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).
Net zero means countries are no longer adding heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Some greenhouse gases might still be emitted, but they would be balanced off or “cancelled out” by the removal of an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases. The concept is similar to carbon neutrality but includes more than just carbon dioxide emissions.
Firms that sign onto the GFANZ agreement are promising to abide by 24 financial initiatives that will signal to their customers, shareholders and investors that they are making green investments a priority.
The initiatives include climate-related reporting of their investments and transparency about climate-related financial risks.
A flare stack lights the sky in Edmonton in December 2018. The Conference of Parties (COP) meets yearly to implement the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequent climate agreements. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)
While the agreement doesn’t compel the financial institutions to invest any specific amount of money or put it into any specific industry, Carney says it creates a new framework for them to make green investments.
“It’s about what their clients are doing, what are the emissions of their clients, the people they lend to, the people they invest in,” he said.
However, there are notable gaps.
Big banks from some of the countries with the largest emissions — China, India and Russia — are not part of the agreement.
Nor does it compel signatories to cease funding projects such as coal mines or other ventures that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
But Carney says if such investments happen they will draw both shareholder and public scrutiny.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicates 1.5 degrees with his hands at the COP26 summit, on Tuesday. Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels by mid-century is seen as a crucial test for the global community. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Pool/The Associated Press)
“What’s going to happen for RBC, JP Morgan … and investors around the world is they’re going to publish every year — ‘These are the emissions of my clients, and this is my plan to get them down.’ And then people are going to be able to see whether or not they’re going to come down.”
$100B fund still $20B short
COP26, hosted by the U.K. government, is expected to have difficulty reaching several of its stated objectives, including getting richer nations to fill up the coffers of a separate $100 billion fund that developing nations can tap into to help transition their economies.
At last count Tuesday, the fund was still roughly $20 billion short.
So Carney’s announcement that the financial sector will meet its target — while national governments so far have not — will be welcome news for the government of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In Glasgow, anticipating Carney’s announcement today, climate campaigners expressed caution about the will of the banking sector to be a force for good in climate mitigation and adaptation.
“We all need the financial system to shift — but if we start celebrating, that is going to give us the impression that we’re already there and we’re not,” said Eddie Perez of Climate Action Network Canada.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, seen here in Gatineau, Que., in October 2019, warns financial institutions could use the Carney initiative to ‘green wash’ their fossil fuel investments. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
For example, he says Royal Bank claims it is a climate champion but continues to invest heavily in Canada’s oil sector.
“I think everything that gets us closer to 1.5 degrees is something that we should look up to, but we need to be much more. We have to scrutinize the strategy to see what comes out of it,” Perez said.
The goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels by mid-century is seen as a crucial test for the global community.
NDP cautions against empty promises
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who’s also at COP26 this week, says there’s a risk that banks and other financial institutions will use the Carney initiative to essentially “green wash” their fossil fuel investments to make them appear more politically acceptable.
“It is actually a net impact that benefits the fight against a climate crisis? Or is this just a symbolic gesture that doesn’t actually make any concrete difference in the fight?” Singh asked.
Former Liberal environment minister Catherine McKenna praised Carney’s work, but she too stressed the need for the financial sector to increase transparency.
“People need to know, where are they investing? Are they continuing to invest in coal?” McKenna told CBC News.
WATCH | PM Justin Trudeau pitches global carbon tax at COP26:
Trudeau pitches global carbon prices at COP26
15 hours ago
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his platform at COP26 to pitch a global carbon pricing program. Though several European countries are on board, it’s a tough sell without the support of big emitters like the U.S. or China. 2:00
As evidence that the agreement is already making a difference, a statement released Wednesday morning claims that 90 institutions that first signed on to GFANZ have already committed to reducing their portfolio emissions by 25-30 per cent within four years.
It also says 38 central banks in countries comprising 67 per cent of the world’s emissions have started to transform their risk-management system to better account for climate-related risk.
Carney says the agreement is the beginning of what he expects will be a long process to win over public trust that the financial sector can help bring about positive climate change.
“The only way you convince people, and the only way people should be convinced, is through a track record of emissions reduction. So it starts from here.”
Have questions about this story? We’re answering as many as we can in the comments.
VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has introduced a bill that would kick-start the province’s offshore wind industry without federal approval.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says amendments within a new omnibus bill introduced today will help ensure Nova Scotia meets its goal of launching a first call for offshore wind bids next year.
The province wants to offer project licences by 2030 to develop a total of five gigawatts of power from offshore wind.
Rushton says normally the province would wait for the federal government to adopt legislation establishing a wind industry off Canada’s East Coast, but that process has been “progressing slowly.”
Federal legislation that would enable the development of offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador has passed through the first and second reading in the Senate, and is currently under consideration in committee.
Rushton says the Nova Scotia bill mirrors the federal legislation and would prevent the province’s offshore wind industry from being held up in Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/65/571/cop26-carbon-price-trudeau-cochrane-021121.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:* 510w")
