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Quest Means Business
President Macron Says Booster Shot Will Be Required For COVID Health Pass; GE To Split Into Healthcare, Aviation And Energy Companies; U.S. Speaker Pelosi And Rep. Ocasio-Cortez At COP 26; Chilean President Impeached; Bezos: Companies Need To Lead On Climate Change; CNN Call To Earth Day; Dash To The Bell. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired November 09, 2021 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:19]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: If you have record markets, then you'll have days when profits are taken, and that's
one of them.
The Dow is slightly off from its record highs, 170 odd points with an hour to go of trading. The markets as they stand, still holding 36,000 though.
The main events that people are talking about: Emmanuel Macron says Europe's fifth COVID wave is here and he is tightening up the COVID Pass
rules in France demanding boosters.
GE, it brings good things to life, and they come in three. The company said it is splitting itself up.
And Nancy Pelosi is off to COP 26 with other top Democrats are pushing for more climate spending.
We are live in New York, not at the Empire State, back in the studio today, but it is still November. It's November the 9th. I'm Richard Quest and I
mean business.
Good evening, the French President Emmanuel Macron is tightening COVID Pass rules in France, starting a fifth wave of cases spreading through Europe.
He is appealing to the six million French citizens not yet vaccinated.
His answer, get the shots to be able to live normally. But also, he is now demanding booster shots, too. It is his first major TV speech since July,
and the President announced anyone over 65 will need a booster shot if their COVID Health Pass is to remain valid.
Seventy percent of the country is fully vaccinated. And ahead of the address, 98,000 people booked booster shots on Monday alone.
Cyril Vanier joins us from Paris. Cyril, hopefully you can hear me. I think the issue here is, why now? What is he afraid of or wants to get ahead of?
And how will it go down?
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the simple answer, the easy answer here, Richard is because we're entering the winter months and with
colder temperatures driving people indoors and providing people more opportunities to infect one another, well, there is concern that COVID will
continue to increase as it has begun to do across Europe during the winter months.
Now, France is doing pretty well, but across Europe, a fifth wave has started that has been said by the World Health Organization and confirmed
by the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
Now France has a very high vaccination rate. Richard, you mentioned 75 percent for the overall population. That is true. But if you look only at
the eligible population for vaccines, everybody above the age of 12, the coverage is actually close to 90 percent, so very high vaccination rate.
That is why the cases, even though they're on an increase here in France, are still pretty low.
And Emmanuel Macron wants to get in front of this increase in cases by requiring booster jabs for over 65 -- Richard.
QUEST: So this idea, in a sense, it's a different philosophy and it is one of responding to endemic as opposed to pandemic. No lockdowns, no
restrictions, as far as I can see or you'll correct me if I've missed something, but this booster shot basis allows life to continue.
VANIER: Well, that's right. It's true that there aren't many restrictions provided -- provided -- Richard you have the Vaccine Pass. Over 75 percent
overall of the population that has the Vaccine Pass, you can do pretty much anything. You can go to the restaurant, bar, cafe, museum, you can go to
work. In schools and in workplaces, you will probably have to wear a mask. My children have to wear a mask all day in school, but beyond that, life is
fairly normal.
For those people who do not have a Vaccine Pass, completely different story. How do you go to the movies? How do you go to the restaurant? You
can't do those things. How do you travel? It might be very hard to do those things, you would have to get a PCR test which most people can do obviously
for day to day activities like that.
So life is normal, provided you buy into this Vaccine Pass scheme -- Richard.
QUEST: Cyril Vanier in Paris tonight. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
Now, it's not just France who as we've reported, COVID cases in many European countries are rising and governments are rethinking measures.
Denmark for instance is looking at bringing back its Corona Pass, showing proof of vaccination or COVID test results. It phased it out over the
summer, you'll remember. We reported on that when we're in Copenhagen.
[15:05:11]
England is pressing ahead with a vaccination mandate for healthcare workers. N.H.S. staff who refuse will be fired. Austria no longer allows
unvaccinated people in public places like restaurants, hotels, and cafes. The 2G rule -- full vaccination or recovery -- came back on Monday.
And Iceland has brought back masks and social distancing this weekend.
Christina Pagel is part of an independent scientific advisory group, Sage, helping the U.K.'s response. She is a Professor of Operations Research at
University College in London and joins me now.
The reality is we have a sort of way forward, don't we? That is if you're vaccinated, and you take these measures, then the number of
hospitalizations and deaths does not rise.
CHRISTINA PAGEL, PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE IN LONDON: Yes, exactly. We're seeing the countries that are kind of
embracing really high levels of vaccination alongside measures, yes, like we were hearing like masks and public spaces and vaccine passports can keep
cases under control, whereas countries that are trying to do without anything are finding that cases are rising really steeply. So that's
happening say in Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands now, and then are reintroducing measures.
QUEST: On this aspect, can we say that with a vaccinated population, we've not seen any significant worrying rise in deaths and hospitalizations that
would lead us towards more restrictive measures.
PAGEL: I don't think we can say that just yet, because we are now getting into a situation where if you're not boosted, and you're several months out
from your second jab that the vaccines do wane against delta.
We've seen in some countries like Singapore, which is extremely highly vaccinated, they've had no really high levels of deaths for them recently
as they've loosened restrictions. So, we're not quite out there. But with boosters and with vaccinating primary school-aged children, we probably can
get on top of it.
QUEST: Singapore is a slightly an anomaly here, isn't it? Because the level of testing is -- I mean, I'm not trying to do with the former
President Trump argument, we're doing more testing, therefore, we're seeing more cases. But in Singapore, that does seem to be the case, where just
about everybody is tested almost on a weekly basis.
I want to know --
PAGEL: They have seen very high levels of deaths as well. So, it's not just the question of testing.
QUEST: Okay. So on this issue, though, of where we go in the northern hemisphere during winter, with a population that is, let's just say for the
purpose of this question, between 75 and 85 percent in the country of eligible vaccine, a vaccine with boosters on the way. Can we get through
winter without further restrictions?
PAGEL: We can if we encourage -- if we encourage uptake of booster, this is a real game changer. They are extremely protective, particularly in
vulnerable populations, which is what we will stress out to your health service.
So if we can boost people and keep in place over winter things like masking indoor spaces, then I think we can get through this and then be in a much,
much better position in 2022, particularly with the new antiviral drugs coming in as well.
QUEST: Christina, the cry will come, "Is this never going to end?" And I guess, to an extent we are -- we sort of just want to know, will we ever,
do you believe, reach a day where we don't have to worry about masks? We don't have to worry about booster shots. We don't have to -- in other
words, we can say COVID is not an issue.
PAGEL: I do think we will get there, but I don't know when. And I think anyone who has tried to predict the endpoint has failed so far. So -- but I
do think yes, eventually, yes, all pandemics end and this will end as well.
QUEST: I'm grateful that you took time this evening from the Lake District, which has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
So, I'm extremely envious that you're enjoying such magnificent, beautiful surroundings. Thank you for joining us tonight.
PAGEL: Thank you.
QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
GE bring good things to life, I could even sing it with you, "We bring good things to life," and there you see it. Well now, it is being hacked apart
and sold off, which is interesting, because this was the original conglomerate.
In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:12:26]
QUEST: The house that Jack built is being demolished, or at least the bits that haven't already been hived off. General Electric, GE, founded by
Thomas Edison and turned by Jack Welch into the most diverse conglomerate has decided to split into three separate public companies. It will be
aviation, healthcare, and energy.
Now the shares rose by about 17 percent before the opening bell, they've fallen back, still $111.00 a share, that's 25 percent up so far this year.
It's a far time from its peak of $480.00 a share reached in 2000. That was when GE ruled the corporate world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'd like you to come along with us to see the brightest, sharpest color picture General Electric has ever put into big screen
televisions.
With GE's unique 100 percent solid state modular system that runs cooler for better performance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, the pedigree goes back a good hundred years, more than a hundred years. The light bulb, x-rays, the MRI, stoves, toasters,
refrigerators -- I've got an oven from GE -- it invented or made and redefined products of 20th Century life.
Under the former CEO, Jack Welch, it reached an apex even at one point owning NBC, television networks and Universal Studios.
Bit by bit, the bits were sold off. Earlier this year, I spoke to Jeffrey Immelt, Welch's successor. He said the great financial crisis hit GE
because of its leasing and its capital division, it could never fully recover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY IMMELT, FORMER CEO, GENERAL ELECTRIC: So there was no company whose business model got hurt more by the financial crisis than GE Capital,
and, you know, for the next year or so, we were just really going after wave after wave after wave of actions to shore up the finance company,
which we did.
If you put yourself back in 2008, which is hard for your viewers to do, there was -- there was no kind of context that the government would be all
in really. So the government in the financial crisis, you know, kind of finally came in and offered programs.
If you compare that to COVID, look, the government was in on day one, on minute one, right, so you basically had companies in 2000, you are on your
own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Guru La Monica is here now. The problem with this strategy, Paul, is that over the years, I mean, first of all, they got rid of the NBC
Universal and Comcast and all of that, but then they continued to redefine.
[15:15:10]
And the last -- the last, if you like, restructuring, got it down to aviation, healthcare, et cetera. So it begs the question why split apart if
they'd already got down to constituent parts?
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: I think though, Richard, yes, they did get down to what you could maybe call a mini conglomerate instead of a
sprawling Leviathan that had its tentacles just about everywhere and in places it probably shouldn't have been like, television and financial
services.
So yes, GE is much smaller now under Larry Culp than it was during the Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt days, but it still may not necessarily make sense in
its current form, I think Culp recognizes that, and you look at companies in the past, you know, decade or 15 years or so. We've had Tyco, a major
conglomerate that broke up, United Technologies has split into several different companies.
We always have this wave of big conglomerates deciding that it's better to be smaller, nimble, and have, you know currency, as an independent company
to go out and potentially make acquisitions in a core business to bulk back up.
QUEST: So which will be the GE -- when this is all finished, do we have any idea how the diversification or the breakup structure will look?
LA MONICA: Yes. It looks as if healthcare will be spun off first, and then you are going to have the core GE will remain the aviation part of the
business. And that, you know, the remaining aspects of GE gets spun off potentially in 2024.
Looking -- you know, this is still a ways out. The timeline is for healthcare to first get split in 2023.
QUEST: Should we mourn the breakup and demise of GE? I guess, I'm asking you, Paul, is this a sort of --
LA MONICA: Did it die?
QUEST: Well, you know, is this a cyclical thing in different eras, big was better, conglomerate as much as you could. Now it's diversify, specialize.
In five years, 10 years' time, will this be again, ah, well, I think we need this to sort of diversify against a rainy day.
LA MONICA: Yes. There are trends that occur in business all the time, Richard, and I wouldn't be shocked if in a couple of years, you have more
big companies. You know, there's obviously talk politically of whether or not you break up the Big Tech giants. Do all of these firms that split up
and downsize, wind up realizing after a couple of years that they need to be bigger and have economies of scale, what have you.
Should we mourn GE? I don't really know. I think for average investors, sadly, they've moved on. GE got kicked out of the Dow. GE is no longer the
economic bellwether it once was where you could rely on it in the Jack Welch days to beat earnings by a penny no matter what. I don't think sadly
in a FAANG obsessed crypto obsessed world, do many people really care about GE? They don't work -- probably not.
QUEST: A few years ago, I bought the shares at 27. I took a loss of 10, and now, I'm regretting they at 111, story at the market.
Paul La Monica, grateful to have you with us, sir. Thank you.
On the market overall today, a winning streak is likely to be broken. All three of the averages are lower, and today, a profit taking up to eight
straight record setting sessions. I think we can afford -- look, the losses are minor compared to the good gains that we have seen in recent weeks.
And yet, despite the buoyant mood, threats are lurking and they are overseas. The Fed is warning that China's real estate crisis is posing a
risk to global markets. So we have Selina Wang reporting from Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Top celebrities disappear from China's internet, Chinese tech companies reel form regulation, and now
Evergrande, China's biggest property developer with $300 billion in unpaid bills teeters on the brink of collapse.
For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, it is all part of the plan. Xi is rewriting the rules in the world's second largest economy.
WANG (on camera): Getting rich is no longer glorious, neither is growth at all costs. The days of unrestrained borrowing that turned Evergrande and so
many companies into powerhouses are over.
LELAND MILLER, CEO, CHINA BEIGE BOOK INTERNATIONAL: There has been a decision at the very top that this buildup of reckless credit expansion is
becoming a danger to China and presumably a threat to the party rule.
[15:20:07]
WANG (voice over): Evergrande rode the boom of homebuyers rushing to urban cities as hundreds of millions across China were lifted out of poverty,
building more than a thousand developments in hundreds of cities.
Properties supercharged the economy, ballooning to account for as much as 30 percent of China's GDP.
By 2017, Evergrande's founder, Xu Jiayin became Asia's richest person. Evergrande expanded into bottled water, electric cars, even pig farming.
The strategy worked until China's economy cooled and Beijing started to crack down on excessive borrowing from property developers.
Beijing's stated goal: To lessen economic inequality as housing prices skyrocketed and to create more sustainable growth.
The stakes are too high for Beijing to let Evergrande fail. Nearly three quarters of household wealth in China are estimated to be tied up in
property.
In September, footage circulated of employees, contractors, and home buyers protesting Evergrande across China. CNN spoke to multiple buyers of
Evergrande properties. One provided CNN with these videos of people demanding their money back. The buyer told CNN that more than 900 people
have paid $340 million for this unfinished housing project that's been stalled since January.
Angry citizens have flooded online government feedback forms. This homebuyer in Sichuan Province asked for all of their hard-earned money had
went begging, "Please uphold justice for your people."
RANA MITTER, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS OF MODERN CHINA, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: If you talk to people about what might cause mass protests in China, the
answer you'll almost always get is it's not democracy, more and more its finance and its property.
WANG (voice over): Beijing says the situation is controllable, but fears grow of a crisis in China's real estate sector that ripples into the
broader economy.
In recent weeks, a slew of other developers have disclosed their own struggles.
MILLER: When you're decelerating or popping the property bubble, you're destroying wealth. You are going to be putting people out of business,
companies out of business. It's a big deal. It's why it's never happened before.
WANG (voice over): It marks the end of China's economic model as we know it.
MILLER: We are going from an area of high to medium growth to an area of low growth in China.
WANG (voice over): But Beijing is betting its top down model will make its 1.4 billion people prosperous.
The catch: Ever more control in the hands of the party.
Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Wall Street's recent run has been spurred by the U.S. Congress and the approval of more than a trillion dollars in new infrastructure
spending. We've seen it, as you know, on a nightly basis. It goes up, it goes down, all the prospect of the package and therefore the market moves
accordingly.
Once the President signed it, the package will have $555 billion of investment in climate initiatives and green energy. The Democratic
leadership, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are now at COP 26 in Glasgow. AOC says the United States' work on climate
is far from finished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): No, we have not recovered our moral authority. I believe that we are making steps. But also kind of in
reference to the earlier question. We have to actually deliver the action in order to get the respect and authority internationally, to get the
credit.
We have to draw down emissions to get credit for being committed on climate change. It's really that simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tom Steyer is the Co-Executive Chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions. He ran, of course, for president in 2020. He joins me tonight
from Glasgow. It is good to have you, sir.
Look, whether one agrees with AOC's politics or not, she makes the point, we have to deliver to get credibility, and I wonder what credibility we
have or anybody has bearing in mind, though, the number is 2.4 percent, if we carry on, we are not going to make 1.5 percent, which is the degrees,
which is the agreed target that we need not to go beyond. That's not going to happen. We failed.
TOM STEYER, CO-EXECUTIVE CHAIR, GALVANIZE CLIMATE SOLUTIONS: Well, Richard, this conference in Glasgow has been two basic things. It has been
countries putting forward pledges called Nationally Determined Contributions about what they're going to do as a country, and those
pledges have moved that 2.4 degrees above pre industrial down to 1.8 degrees above pre industrial.
That's half of what's going on in Glasgow, but the other half is for the first time, international business and specifically American business has
showed up at a level of seriousness that we've never seen before.
[20:25:13]
So when you talk about actually achieving change on the ground, executing what has to happen, we're seeing people show up private sector people,
entrepreneurs, and CEOs and talking about what they're going to do, specifically, and that pivot to execution is probably the most important
thing coming out of this Glasgow conference.
QUEST: Mark Carney told us last week on this program, the thing that is needed most is clarity -- clarity of policy -- because if you know what the
targets are, then business can deal with that, if you like. You might not like it, but you can deal with it. Do you get a feeling of clarity yet?
STEYER: Well, I think we've had 10 years of people within countries and policymakers talking about strategies. And is it clear? I mean, there are a
lot of things that have to be determined on the ground.
But you know, it is very easy to say that this is all about strategy. Strategy is necessary to set a framework and that's absolutely true. But
execution is where we are, Richard, and execution is hard.
So, you know, we really need to -- to say that you set the strategy and it is done, I think is, you know, wishful thinking. This is going to take a
collaboration between the public and private sectors, and it's going to take incredible effort to get this done, and it is not a given.
QUEST: Okay, Tom, but if we take, for example, the two voices, Barack Obama saying democracy is messy, and you don't always get what you want,
and what you need et cetera is what he said, but then you take Greta, who says, look, I don't care what you're saying. I mean, forget how she may
have said, her basic point is, your targets and your actions are not enough. Now, those are factual though, if we get that bit wrong, we will
live to regret it to our demise.
STEYER: There is no doubt about it, Richard. I mean, there is a need for true urgency. You know, I've been fighting on this for 15 years to say, we
need to do this in an urgent and comprehensive fashion and that we absolutely need to push in a way that we have never pushed. And it's true,
1.8, which is the promises is not 1.5. And by the way, making a promise is not actually doing something.
So there is an absolute need to take into our policymakers, and also our businesses to understand this has to happen. But this has been -- I don't
think you throw out the baby with the bathwater. This is a process where we are now at the sticking point.
QUEST: Right.
STEYER: If we want to make 1.5, we have to have an amazing 2020s. If we miss this decade, we absolutely miss. So let's see, you know, game on.
QUEST: All right. Tom, I wanted to talk about billionaires tax rises and all sorts of things, but they seem rather trivial compared to the
existential crisis that we're facing with climate change. So you'll be back again, I hope, we can talk other issues at a future date because we do like
to have you. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
STEYER: Anytime, Richard. Thanks for having me.
QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Busy day as you can tell. An impeachment vote is approved against the President of Chile, and the
Pandora Papers, Sebastian Pinera and how he is responding to accusations of tax evasion.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, glad to have you with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: Chile's house of congress has voted to impeach the president, Sebastian Pinera, over corruption allegations. It follows leaked documents,
known as the Pandora Papers, which tied him to the irregular sale of a mining company.
The president has denied wrongdoing. He's dismissed the impeachment procedure, which will now advance to the senate. Stefano Pozzebon with this
report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard, The lower house of Chile's parliament heads to debate for over 20 hours and drag the session into the
early hours on Tuesday to decide whether Chilean president Sebastian Pinera could be impeached on a tax evasion scandal directly linked to the Pandora
paper global investigations.
In a document leaked in that global investigation earlier this year, Pinera's name is apparently linked to the sale of a mining company in a tax
haven, a sale that was not disclosed and that, opposition lawmakers accuse, directly benefited from Pinera's role as the country's president.
The impeachment request passed with 78 votes in favor, 67 against and three abstention. But there was late drama, as a opposition lawmaker, you see him
here, the Socialist, Jaime Naranjo, decided to read the whole papers of the proceeding for over 15 hours to drag the vote into the early hours and,
that way, allow another lawmaker, who was under a mandatory quarantine for COVID-19, to arrive to parliament early on Tuesday and cast his vote.
The motion will now pass to the Senate, which will act as a special tribunal to rule on the impeachment.
Pinera had previously stated that there were no irregularities in that mining company sale. And his lawyer reacted to the vote, calling the
impeachment mandate "a political maneuver."
The scandal hit the president just at the very end of his mandate. Chile is set to go to the polls to elect a new president just a week on Sunday, on
November 21st -- Richard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: A new reports says most of the net zero pledges at COP26 don't have serious plans behind them. The Climate Action Tracker believes that
countries planning to cut emissions, only 6 percent of the cuts are backed up with concrete plans.
It means the world is on track to blow past its 1.5 degree target. We talked about that just a second ago. Amazon's Jeff Bezos says it's the
private sector that needs to step up. The Bezos Earth Fund pledged $2 billion for conservation at COP26.
[15:35:00]
Andrew Steer is the fund's chief executive. He has a good $10 million behind him. And he joins me from Glasgow.
I look at what you say, the idea is -- I mean, the fund, preserve nature, fight inequalities due to climate change, decarbonize the economy.
Now bearing in mind on this program we heard it's going to cost $130 trillion over the next 30 or 40 years, where do you fit into this?
What do you do with your money that makes even $10 billion worthwhile?
ANDREW STEER, CEO, BEZOS EARTH FUND: That's a great question, Richard. Here's the issue, $130 trillion now committed to net zero. Think about what
that means.
That means by 2050, all of the portfolios of all of the banks and all of the financial funds have to be two companies that are net zero themselves.
So every year, they're looking for green investments. They can't find them at the moment.
Why?
Because policies aren't right, because we don't have the pipeline of good projects and because we don't have the risk management techniques,
especially in the developing and emerging world.
So what's the role of philanthropy?
The role of philanthropy is that we can move quickly. We can put grant financing quickly, precisely to help create --
QUEST: Where?
STEER: -- the enabling environment.
QUEST: Where, where?
What are the -- we're getting to a point where there's no shortage of investment opportunity or funds, VC, private equity. There's no shortage of
investment for green tech.
So where do you add value, if you will, to an investment?
STEER: Well, think about the Democratic Republic of Congo. What, at the moment, 8 percent have electricity? But they are -- and others are
investing in all kinds of diesel and they're cutting down the forest to use firewood and so on. They need electricity. At the moment, no, private
investment isn't investing there.
Why not?
Because you don't have the legal structures and so on. That's a very difficult case. But we're going to aim at the bull's-eye. Think about
Indonesia, Vietnam; they have all kinds of coal-powered electricity. They need to close them down.
We can actually help provide, if you like, the risk management money, the subsidy money, the planning money, so that actually they can close down
quicker.
QUEST: Are you investing for return -- and, not for profit, I'll grant you -- it would be for further reinvestment -- or are you giving grants, if you
like, in a philanthropic way or a combination of both?
STEER: Well, we're investing for impact. We're not investing to make money for ourselves. But we're absolutely investing for impacts, $10 billion,
grant funding this decade. It's an incredible blessing.
But we need to invest every dollar in a way that actually generates other money. And we are very concerned that, while this commitment of $130
trillion is fantastic, we need to, if you like, unleash it on the developing world at the moment. The risk is, it will all stay in the rich
world.
QUEST: But Andrew, in a way that Gates -- with The Gates Foundation changed the focus -- and I covered it over the decades since it started --
changed the focus of philanthropy in the health sector and all -- and that sort of way, do you envisage changing the way investment philanthropy is
done in climate, so it doesn't become tree-hugging but it becomes, if you like, private sector-led for beneficial -- and can you do that?
STEER: Well, look, Richard, we don't come in as a knight on a white horse. We want to be one player in this important ecosystem. But yes, we do need
to change it. This is the decisive decade. We need to lower carbon emissions by 50 percent this decade. It's never happened before.
So yes, we do need to change. We need to change the way the multilateral banking system works and the development finance sector works. Yes, we do.
But we don't take that all upon ourselves. We want to be a partner -- and think about nature for the moment. If we don't invest in nature, we will
fail to stay under 1.5 degrees. And that's why we committed $3 billion for a nature strategy.
QUEST: Andrew, we'll talk more over the months and years ahead. Please, you have an invitation always to come and talk to us on QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS. Anyone who has $10 billion of Bezos' money is well worth coming to have a chat with, to see where he's putting it. Good to see you, sir.
Tomorrow, the first-ever Call to Earth Day, CNN is partnering with schools, individuals, organizations and we're raising awareness of environmental
issues. You're well familiar with it, of course, because of those wonderful reports that we bring you that I thoroughly enjoy.
[15:40:00]
It will be a day of action online, on TV and the #CallToEarth on social media.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment. I will have a dash to the closing bell. It's going to be a down day, I think. But we'll have "CONNECTING
AFRICA" between now and then.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:55:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: And so a dash to the closing bell with two minutes to go. Risk off on Wall Street. If you take a look at the markets, the Dow is down and
indeed all the other major indices are down. The big three are also off.
Markets are waiting to see what's going to happen. The U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are at COP26 in Glasgow. Tom
Steyer, the billionaire climate activist and former presidential candidate, told me the most important thing at the summit is the business community is
finally there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM STEYER, CLIMATE ACTIVIST AND FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the first time international business and specifically American business has
shown up at a level and a level of seriousness that we've never seen before.
So when you talk about actually achieving change on the ground, executing what has to happen, we're seeing people show up -- private sector people,
entrepreneurs and CEOs -- and talking about what they're going to do specifically. And that pivot to execution is probably the most important
thing coming out of this Glasgow conference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Before we go, let me just say, I'm off over the next two weeks. We'll talk about the significance of taking a break from all that market
stuff that you just saw then. Well, finally decided to do it.
For the next two weeks, if you see me on my travels, give us a wave. We'll exchange thoughts on economic growth and all that sort of stuff.
Otherwise, that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for the moment and the dash to the bell. Whatever you're up to in the next two weeks, I hope it's profitable.
The closing bell is ringing. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.
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