10 things you need to know today: November 4, 2021

Financial coalition puts $130 trillion in assets behind green-energy transition, Biden says Democrats' setbacks not due to him, and more

The COP26 conference
(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

1. Financial coalition puts $130 trillion behind green-energy transition

A global coalition of financial institutions announced Wednesday that more than 450 firms controlling $130 trillion in assets have committed to shifting the global economy to cleaner energy. On Day 3 of the United Nations' COP26 climate summit, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero said these banks, investors, and insurers have vowed that the companies and projects they invest in will reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This will mean "every financial decision takes climate change into account," said former Bank of England chief Mark Carney, who leads the coalition with billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Jason Opeña Disterhoft, senior climate and energy campaigner at Rainforest Action Network, said the pledge would amount to "greenwash" without a commitment to stop fossil-fuel expansion.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.