Most Canadians know that Prime Minister Mark Carney entered politics with heavy-hitting experience as an economist and central banker.
But perhaps less known is Carney’s pre-political role in the fight for climate action.
“The challenges currently posed by climate change pale in significance compared with what might come,” Carney said in a landmark speech at insurance company Lloyd's of London in 2015, while head of the Bank of England. “While there is still time to act, the window of opportunity is finite and shrinking.”
For years, Carney used his economic credibility to draw global attention to the mounting financial costs of global warming and the opportunities of the energy transition.
The 2015 speech "was one of the first times when a serious economist discussed climate change as a real risk,” Julie Segal, senior manager of climate finance at advocacy group Environmental Defence, told CBC News.
But in that address, Carney also emphasized his lane: “It is not for a central banker to advocate for one policy response over another. That is for governments to decide.”
Mark Carney leaves the stage in Ottawa on April 29 after the Liberal Party won the 2025 election. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Ten years later, as prime minister, Carney has dismantled Canada’s consumer carbon pricing mechanism ,
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