In this 2021 book Value(s): Building A Better World For All, Carney tried to persuade us to believe in the free market—not just its merits, but its capacity to self-regulate, to be persuaded to do the right thing, to adopt “enlightened values,” to develop a kinder and gentler capitalism to meet a brutal moment.

This is the same Carney who played a key role in bailing out Canada’s banks during the global financial crisis.

The move ushered in more than a decade of cheap money, which in turn helped fuel a long-term, record-setting growth in the wealth gap while giving rise to financial bubbles and dodgy investments, driving up household debt, and exacerbating the housing crisis.

The asset-management firm Carney chaired, Brookfield, is another clear example of the fundamental inconsistency in believing the free market—perhaps led by the gentlest of hands by the state—is the way forward on climate.

The firm is a dirty-energy behemoth, investing billions in fossil fuels.

It has “one of the biggest portfolios of dirty energy in the world,” says climate finance activist Jason Mogus, who worked with the Sunrise Project. “And they continue to expand it.”