Archbishop of Canterbury, a Former Oil Exec, Gives Backing to ‘Green’ Finance

Aug. 28, 2019 (EIRNS)—Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has thrown his support behind the green finance scam in statements calling on investment funds to put their money in companies that reduce their impact on the environment. He made the comments in support of a Global Ethical Finance Initiative summit scheduled to take in October in Edinburgh.

“The situation we find ourselves in has rightly been called a climate emergency,” Welby said.

“We know it’s unquestionable that investors acting together can influence outcomes on everything, including climate change. It is in investors’ power to help avert the disastrous consequences—ethical and financial—of failing to achieve the Paris goals.

“Money is not morally neutral—it can do harm and it can do good. At the very least it is the responsibility of investors to take account of environmental, social and governance factors in their investment decisions and in their stewardship of their assets.”

Before becoming born-again Anglican, Welby was a senior executive at Elf Aquitaine and Enterprise Oil plc petroleum companies.

He demanded that funds that track indexes such as the FTSE 100 should exert more pressure than they have on companies over the imagined climate crisis.

“Passive investment ... may be the right investment solution for many, but passive stewardship is the answer for no one. All investors can make a difference by engaging and voting determinably in support of the Paris agreement,”

Welby said. Saying that fund managers had “not sufficiently stepped up to the plate” on green finance, he insisted they meet targets set by the Paris Climate Accord.

The Global Ethical Finance 2019 (EF2019) summit will be held Oct. 8-9, organized by the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), which annually hosts such a conference in Edinburgh, where business, political, civic and social leaders co-develop and shape a “more sustainable financial system.” In introducing the conference on their website, they reference the Bank of England’s “recognition” of climate change as a core financial risk. It is cosponsored by the UNDP and Scottish government, and will include over 400 leading finance practitioners from throughout the world. Among the main speakers, in addition to Welby, is Sir Roger Gifford, Chair of the Green Finance Initiative—the City of London plan for green financing, as a means, however short-lived, to bolster a financial system in its death throes.