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Good morning from the financial Times. Today is Friday, February 16th, and this is your

FT news briefing. The head of the European Union is ready to boost the bloc's military, and US asset managers are backing

out of a major climate change group. Plus, big food companies are investing in farming practices that store carbon underground, but there are some

significant hurdles here. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. The world has gotten rougher and Europe's military needs to adjust.

That's what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the FT yesterday.

She said the blocks defense industry should ramp up production and promote consolidation, and

that the EU is working on incentives to make that happen.

For example, the block could dedicate some funding to help support joint contracts for

weapons between member states. Military spending has of course been top of mind since

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. European NATO members will

spend a record 380 billion dollars this year on defense.

Three of the world's

biggest asset managers are distancing themselves from a major climate change group.

Climate Action 100 plus uses shareholder influence to pressure companies to decarbonize,

but both J.P. Morgan and State Street announced yesterday that they're

leaving the group. Black Rock followed up by saying it was scaling back its participation.

Here to talk more about this is the FT's U.S. financial

editor Brooke Masters. Hi Brooke. Hey Mark. All right so before we get into

why these big asset managers pulled away from Climate Action 100 plus.

What does this group actually do? How does it work?

...