Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, will take on a new role in the United Nations. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, told the press on Sunday that Carney will lead the United Nations in properly accounting for the financial risks climate change poses.
Leaving Banks for Governments
The Canadian-born Carney is scheduled to leave the Bank of England on the 31st of January. Guterres praised Carney for being a “remarkable pioneer” through pushing policies that make the financial sector focus on climate change and its economic impact.
Guterres also notified the public that Carney would start working for the UN on Monday. Carney will take on the role of the UN special envoy for climate action. Speaking from a news conference prior to the UN climate summit that is happening in Madrid, Gutteres also stated that Carney would work in climate finance from next year.
The threat of “Stranded Assets”
Before Carney took up the role, it was held by Micheal Bloomberg. The billionaire owner of the namesake Bloomberg news and financial data provider was forced to step down from the position. Bloomberg himself has aims of running for US president, stepping down in November to file the paperwork.
Carney first made his opinions about climate change’s threat to finance clear back in 2015. Ever since, he’s urged the financial world to practice better supervision, risk management, and disclosure about it.
He speaks of the potential of generating “stranded assets.” These assets represent deposits of oil, coal, and gas that have the possibility of losing their collective values, should the world move away from carbon. With this in mind, he publicly criticized the evident lack of transparency about the potential financial ramifications of global warming. He stated that it held the risk for potential investments worth trillions of dollars losing their value.
Prior to working for nearly seven years for the Bank of England, the 54-year-old had worked in both the Bank of Canada and Goldman Sachs. Carney is an undisputed veteran in the financial industry, having played a significant role in the Canadian financial crisis.
A Focus on Climate Change’s Impact
The Bank of England released a statement regarding Carney’s new shift in positions. It explained that Carney would ensure that climate change’s impact will play a pivotal role in risk management, financial reporting, and calculations of returns. The plan is to have these calculated ahead of the 2020 global summit happening in Glasgow.
The Bank of England made it clear that Carney was earning only $1 a year in this position. The role is voluntary, making annual salary a single USD to signify this. It’s a far cry from the £900 000 ($1.15 million) a year he earned in the Bank of England. Carney has no lack of funding to speak of, being the financial heavyweight that he is, but the idea of him being given a $1 bill after each year is mildly amusing.