Mark Carney Profile Photo

Mark Carney

WSB Exclusive Speaker

UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance; Governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020); Governor of the Bank of Canada (2008-2013)

Focused on four major crises-the Global Financial Crisis, the Global Health Crisis, Climate Change and the Fourth Industrial Revolution– Mark Carney shares his insights into lessons learned and economic opportunities that put people and planet first.

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Mark Carney Profile Photo

Economist and former banker, Mark Carney has spent his life in various financial roles, in both the public and private sector. His experiences as governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020), governor of the Bank of Canada (2008-2013), and now as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, offer him a unique position to provide tangible action plans for leaders, companies and countries to transform the value of the market back into the value of humanity.

During his thirteen-year career with Goldman Sachs, Carney helped a series of emerging economies, including post-apartheid South Africa, gain access to international capital markets. Carney was appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in August 2003. In November 2004, he left the Bank of Canada to become Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Finance, where he oversaw five budgets during a series of minority parliaments and represented Canada at the G7 and G20. He was appointed as Governor of the Bank of Canada during the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, taking immediate action, including pre-emptively restructuring the $200 billion CDO market, and reducing interest rates before most other countries and committing to hold them down for 12 months after, a groundbreaking move that supported Canadian credit markets and business confidence. As a result of Carney’s actions, Canada was able to return to prerecession levels of output and employment earlier than others in the G7.

In 2012 U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne stunned observers when he declared that Carney would succeed Lord Mervyn King as governor of the Bank of England, marking the first time that a non-Briton was appointed to the position. Carney quickly adopted the “forward guidance” strategy he had applied in Canada—navigating the United Kingdom through falling unemployment rates, rising interest rates, and Brexit. He is credited with focusing attention on modern challenges including digital currencies and climate change, launching the bank’s first climate-related stress tests. He stepped down as governor of the Bank of England when his term ended in 2020.

His new book VALUE(S): Building a Better World for All, is a meditation on his experiences that examines the short-comings and challenges of the market in the past decade which he argues has led to rampant, public distrust and the need for radical change.

Carney earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, and went on to receive both a master’s degree and doctorate in Economics from Oxford University. He now resides in Ottawa, Canada.

Featured Videos

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on The Business of Climate Change

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on Maximizing Net Zero Carbon Emissions

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on Why Companies Need Net Zero Carbon Emissions Plans

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on Holding Companies Accountable for Carbon Emissions

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on Managing Climate Change Risk

Mark Carney Profile Photo
Mark Carney

Mark Carney on Addressing Climate Change for a Better Future

Mark Carney’s Speech Topics

  • From Market Economies to Market Societies: Solving The World’s Major Crises

    Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, shares unique insights into global and domestic monetary policy and economic trends. Carney explains how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and have gone from market economies to market societies, contributing to the modern day crises of credit, COVID-19, and climate change. Renowned for his focus on digital currencies, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and climate action, Carney examines the shortcomings and challenges of the market in the past decade which he argues has led to rampant, public distrust and the need for fundamental change. Carney provides leaders, companies, and countries with tangible action plans to transform the value of the market back into the value of humanity.

  • VALUES: Building a Better World for All

    Mark Carney shares a bold, urgent argument on the misplacement of value in financial markets and how we can and need to maximize value for the many, not few. In this speech, he answers the questions: What is value? How does the way we assess value both shape our values and constrain our choices? And how do the valuations of markets affect the values of our society?


    With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to confront how we value health, wealth and opportunity, Carney explores how we maintain importance of the economic well-being of the nation-state while continuing to value human life and discusses the surprising differences in the financial value put on a human life in different nations. He argues that this reductionist approach fails to consider deeper thinking about the worth of human existence.

  • The Value of the Global Climate

    Mark Carney focuses on climate change, arguing that the roots of our environmental emergency lie in a deeper crisis of values. How can we create an ecosystem in which society’s values broaden the market’s conceptions of value? Carney observes how individual creativity and market dynamism can be channeled to achieve broader social goals including inclusive growth and environmental sustainability. Carney challenges that threats currently posed by climate change pale in comparison to what might come in the form of political and financial instability, food and water insecurity, and effects on property and migration. He discusses how the financial sector can consider the physical, liability, and transition risks that climate change poses for our current system while sharing what might be done to mitigate them.

  • Resilience After Financial Crises

    Taking audiences back to the financial crisis of 2008, the worst financial crisis to affect the world since the Great Depression, Mark Carney argues that a deeper crisis in our values that created ethically fragile markets was the real culprit of 2008. The crisis ended a time when disconnected bankers and the financial sector labeled themselves as “Masters of the Universe” – now, more than a decade later, Carney shares his findings on how they have changed their ways, and how we can continue to make progress into a safer, simpler, and fairer financial system that can withstand risks we don’t anticipate.


    With financial crises occurring historically once a decade, Carney elucidates how organizations and citizens alike must remain vigilant to break the destructive cycle of financial history and resist the “three lies of finance” in order to avoid the next crisis.

  • The Economic Outlook and How to Prosper in an Age of Disruption

    Drawing on his 13 year experience as G7 central bank governor and unique perspective on the accelerating sustainable and digital re-wirings of our economies, Mark Carney offers his outlook for near term policies and long-term prosperity in the global economy.


Works by Mark Carney

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