Mark Carney v Fossil Fuels

By Paul Homewood 

 

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/finance/fossil-fuel-investors-will-lose-money-and-wreck-the-market-mark-carney-warns/11108.article

 

Not for the first time, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, has involved himself in the controversy over climate change:

 

Investors’ money could be at risk due to climate change, the governor of the Bank of England has warned.

In a speech at the Lloyd’s of London dinner, Mark Carney said those who invest in fossil fuels could lose out because of action taken to prevent climate change in the future.

In the blunt warning, he said oil, coal and gas would be “literally unburnable” and the assets of fossil fuel companies left “stranded” by strict rules brought in by governments to halt climate change.

“The exposure of UK investors, including insurance companies, to these shifts is potentially huge,” he said.

 

While he claims he does not want to see investors ditch their fossil fuel assets in one go, and instead waffles on about companies declaring their carbon footprints (whatever good that will do), his words can only encourage a panic sell down which will end up crystallising the very losses he fears. It’s tantamount to the fire officer shouting “FIRE” in a theatre just because someone lights up a fag.

 

In any event, it is time to get real. The Arabs certainly are not going to stop drilling for oil, nor will the Chinese, Russians and most other countries, including I suspect the USA. If dopey westerners stop buying the stuff, there will more than enough demand from the rest of the world for it.

Carney’s role is to maintain financial stability, and as such he should be using his influence to stop the suicidal rush to decarbonise, which really will end up wreaking havoc with our economies.

 

Of course, as others have already pointed out, Carney is a Goldman Sachs man, and we know who stands to make billions out of the scam!