The former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney led the headline-making charge at COP26 this week, bringing together a coalition of international financial companies that has up to $130tn of private capital committed to hitting net zero targets by 2050.
But experts question whether the maths around the initiative stack up. One criticism is that banks have signed up to the pledge, while financing fossil fuel companies.
Indeed, scrutiny of banks’ lending intensified before COP26 and the financial sector faces growing calls to reduce its business with carbon-intensive sectors.
Talk of climate financing leads to one further question: where does the money go? While rich countries previously pledged $100bn a year to help poorer countries reduce emissions, there is little agreement on how to spend the money or ensure it is put to good use.
Elsewhere, there was big news from the Federal Open Market Committee in the US. The central bank will begin tapering its bond-buying programme, but Fed chair Jay Powell insisted it is too early to think about raising interest rates.
Meanwhile in the UK post-Brexit trade pains continue as the French and British have been locked in a dispute over fishing rights. Last-ditch talks to find a resolution are set for Thursday.
It is a battle on two fronts for the Brits, though. This week news broke that the UK government is seeking to appoint new external legal advisers ahead of a possible overhaul of the Northern Ireland protocol.
But the government was in a less transformational mood when it came to business rates. While announcements in last month’s budget “made some sensible tweaks to the English system,” writes business columnist Helen Thomas, it passed off existing policy as new and pushed “big questions” further downstream.
And in corporate governance, on Monday the UK government launched a new push for more women on listed company boards, building on the Hampton-Alexander review.
There has also been plenty of churn. On Monday, Barclays announced its chief executive Jes Staley was stepping down following an investigation into the way he described his relationship with disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wednesday saw two further moves. Following a spate of resignations in the Chinese tech sector, Zhang Yiming announced he will relinquish his role as chair of ByteDance, the social media group he founded almost a decade ago.
And back in the UK, Duncan Wanblad became the new chief executive of FTSE 100 mining group Anglo American. He replaces Mark Cutifani who led the company for nine years.
