Carney Takes Climate Finance Envoy Role, UN’s Guterres Says
Carney Takes Climate Finance Envoy Role, UN’s Guterres Says
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Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has accepted the role of special envoy for climate action and finances, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.
Carney has taken a pioneering role pushing the climate issue in the financial sphere, Guterres said at a news conference in Madrid, where the next UN climate change conference kicks off on Monday. He’ll take on his special envoy role with pay of $1 a year after stepping down from the central banker’s job, the Bank of England said in a statement.
Carney is due to leave the Bank of England on Jan. 31, although his successor has not yet been named after the selection process was disrupted by Brexit and the upcoming UK general election. That’s boosted speculation he may be asked to extend his term at the BOE for a third time, although Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said last month that he saw no need for such a move and that his party would appoint a new chief “very, very, quickly” if it wins the Dec. 12 vote.
Carney has been talking about the risks of climate change since at least 2015 when he used a speech at Lloyds of London to warn that the phenomenon imposed “a cost on future generations that the current generation has no direct incentive to fix.” In October, he told the Guardian newspaper that companies and industries that aren’t moving toward zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and face bankruptcy.
At least $100 billion a year should be mobilized for developing countries to adapt for climate action, Guterres said. It’s crucial for countries, especially those with high emissions, to pledge more ambitious measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he added.
To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net;David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Sam Unsted
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