Mark Carney’s undoing may have happened already. Pictured: Mark Carney. Photo Credit: Mark Carney/X.
Sometime in the future, the past few weeks could be viewed as the beginning of the end for Mark Carney’s fantasy of a net zero global financial nirvana in which airy-fairy considerations like ESG (environmental, social and governance) were to be given priority in the business community over and above the basic need to remain solvent.
One of the key entities that was created to endorse climate goals in the financial world was the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which was established in April 2021 under the auspices of the United Nations. The purpose of the NZBA was to promote lending and investment practises that prioritized the achievement of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 over other business goals such as making money and staying in business. Many large global banks quickly signed on to this new entity, heavily fostered by Carney, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance.
As political and economic winds have shifted of late, the last month has seen many large U.S. banking institutions peeling off from the NZBA. Some high-priority examples include Goldman Sachs (Carney’s former alma mater), Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, among others. It’s pretty difficult to see the Alliance surviving without these important players.
Part of the reason for this is undoubtedly the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. President. A key part of the net zero thrust is to discourage investments in the oil and gas sector, and Trump has been nothing but clear about his intentions to “drill baby drill.” Trump’s re-election changes the game significantly for the fossil fuel sector and the likelihood that massive subsidies will continue to flow into alternate energy sources such as wind and solar, that have proven to be such huge disappointments.
Yet even before the U.S. election took place and the results were known, support for entities such as the NZBA was waning and major players were leaving these groups. It seems the promises of Carney and his ilk that there was much economic gain to be had from green investments and adherence to ESG business practices were dead wrong. Instead, people were actually losing money and businesses were going under as they sacrificed basic good business principles to these unrealistic and impractical social goals. It’s interesting how so many of the climate heretics that denounced these policies from the start, and were vilified for doing so, have turned out to be absolutely correct.
This week, the big Canadian news that my Niagara Independent colleagues will undoubtedly be covering in more detail is the announcement by Justin Trudeau that he is finally vacating the Prime Ministerial chair. As is typical for narcissist Trudeau, he is doing so in a way that will inflict the most damage on Canada and Canadians. At a very difficult time for our country, he has chosen to suspend the activities of the federal government in the interest of the Liberal Party and him personally. No one should be surprised as this has been the practice of this government for its entire tenure – putting political party and personal selfish interests ahead of those of the country. A much better choice than a protracted prorogation would have been to call an election and let Canadians decide their future but, as usual, the best interests of Canada are not the priority here.
Interestingly, the collapse of Trudeau is not unrelated to what we see happening in international financial markets, as the ongoing rejection of “woke” policies is a key cause of the Liberals’ unpopularity as well. There is also a direct connection to Carney, who is expected to make a run for the Liberal leadership if rumours are to be believed. Although Carney has had a storied and very well-remunerated career in the financial sector, his failures keep piling up. The rejection by major financial institutions of his laser-focussed net zero thrust in global financial markets should be a cautionary tale to Canadians regarding just how savvy he actually is about the real-world impacts of his preferred policies.
Cumulatively, trillions of dollars have been wasted around the world on costly, pointless measures justified in the name of climate. Many people are fighting hard to retain these net zero goals – not because they are especially committed to helping the climate but because an enormous amount of money has been made by its proponents at the expense of average taxpayers. The vast amount spent on so-called climate could have been much more productively directed to help reduce poverty and improve the lives of average people around the world. That would in turn have a beneficial impact on the environment as people that are better off financially have a greater incentive to support effective climate policies than those living in abject poverty.
It is good timing for Canadians that we are seeing the collapse of entities such as the NZBA. As individuals such as Carney, and undoubtedly some others within the Liberal party, vie to be Canada’s next Prime Minister, we see what failures their preferred policies have produced in the past and the likelihood of that continuing going forward. On the basis of recent evidence, it seems that the folks that said years ago “Go woke, go broke” were right all along.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
