Your Weekend Reading: In Glasgow, the Whole World Is at Stake

It’s been a long time coming, but Great Britain is about to feel the heat of unintended consequences first set in motion by the Industrial Revolution. A showdown is looming in Glasgow, Scotland, as world leaders gather for the critical climate summit known as COP26. The talks were always going to be difficult: Think of herding 200 countries toward a plan to prevent catastrophic warming, one that involves deep short-term economic sacrifice. Then think about their grim track record of failure over the decades. Though minds may be more focused now by a string of increasingly extreme climate events, the energy crunch that’s followed pandemic downturns, lockdowns and reopenings has prompted countries to scramble to buy and burn more fossil fuels. That’s giving climate deniers and laggards—not to mention coal exporters—another excuse to go slowly as humanity’s hour grows ever later. Even the COP26 host, Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson, fresh from his Kermit the Frog oration at the United Nations, is struggling to convince political followers of his born-again green credentials. The meeting, said U.S. envoy John Kerry, is the world’s “last best hope” to unify.

Blackrock’s best kept secret is a man named Alister Hibbert. He’s the money manager who has enriched the firm and its clients with a near 370% gain. The man with the Midas touch is rarely mentioned inside the world’s largest asset management firm, and some staffers don’t even know who he is. Hibbert’s fund single-handedly earned almost half of BlackRock’s record performance fees last year. His reward, by the way, dwarfed the $30 million payout for Chairman Larry Fink.