From the NYTimes today: The credit rating agency known as Moodys (the one that didn't notice the housing bubble of the early 2000's) today says "governments must prepare for heatwaves, draught, flooding and coastal storm surges or face credit downgrades". They are under pressure to "address the underlying climate risks they face." Or else.
So you are a town on the Georgia coast and now you have to build a seawall that will withstand what? How "prepared" can you be for the climate in 2100? Especially if those same governments continue to prop up fossil fuel energy development. So the citizens (who hate taxes) will face higher taxes to build the absurd wall or face higher taxes because no one will insure their city. And face higher insurance rates no matter what they do.
How will they face the "underlying risk" of civilization collapse? How would I calculate that in terms of dollars and cents? As soon as Standard and Poor and Fitch (the other credit majors) start downgrading there is going to be some serious whining. Once the giant illusion of "preparedness" and "mitigation" and "addressing the underlying causes" starts to unravel, you will see a frantic exodus of rats jumping ship.
At the UN recently, Jeremy Corbyn of the British Labour Party said it is time to "factor the cost of environmental degradation into financial forecasting." That should be interesting.
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