HSBC Asset Management responsible investing head Stuart Kirk caused an uproar when he branded climate warnings from environmental “nut jobs” as false, leading to a public rebuke from the CEO and a suspension from his job.

But Tariq Fancy, who was BlackRock’s sustainable investing CIO between 2018 and 2019, told Financial News that while Kirk’s remarks were controversial, he has “done us a service” by “infusing a dose of honesty into a debate that is otherwise leading us nowhere”.