Skip to main content
A race against time to create a new green economy
JOHN GREEN looks at how Beijing has raced ahead in environmental initiatives leaving the West, held to ransom by the fossil fuel cartels, panicking in its wake
MIGHT NO LONGER RIGHT: USS Theodore Roosevelt transits the Pacific Ocean in June 2020

IN August 2019, Larry Fink, co-founder of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management group, flew to Alaska for a fishing holiday with his mates, Philipp Hildebrand, the former Swiss Central Bank governor and Mike Corbat, the former head of Citibank. 

When they arrived, Fink was taken aback to find the water levels very low and wreaths of smoke were drifting across the narrow Bering Strait from Siberia, where the peat in the tundra was on fire. 

During his four-decade career, he had worried about the planet in a vaguely do-gooding way, he says, and he used to assume that personal and philanthropic conviction should stay out of his profit-seeking business. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
221
Film of the week / 1 May 2025
1 May 2025

JOHN GREEN recommends a German comedy that celebrates the old GDR values of solidarity, community and a society not dominated by consumerism

Mural depicting the symbol of the revolution - a soldier with a carnation in the barrel of his gun; People celebrating on top of a tank in Lisbon during the Carnation Revolution of April 25 1974 / Pics: IsmailKupeli/CC; Public domain
Books / 24 April 2025
24 April 2025

JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal

PULLING NO PUNCHES: Activists from the feminist campaign gro
Features / 17 April 2025
17 April 2025

Mountains of research show that hardcore material harms children, yet there are still no simple measures in place

(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

Similar stories
PAWNING BRITAIN: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with Black
Features / 3 December 2024
3 December 2024
Keir Starmer’s BlackRock enthusiasm is a clear give-away for Tory continuity plans, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the return cap
Features / 28 June 2024
28 June 2024
Brussels is following the US’s lead in slapping punitive duties on China’s electric vehicles, sabotaging Europe’s climate goals and economic interests to appease Biden’s anti-Beijing crusade, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME: Leapmotor EVs are parked outsid
Features / 23 May 2024
23 May 2024
As Biden ramps up punitive tariffs to protect an ailing corporate supremacy, the EU faces a crucial choice — stay chained to a crumbling US empire, or navigate constructive economic ties with China itself, writes MARC VANDEPITTE