Climate Change Could Cost Big ... per Mark Carney

Lake Girl said:

Wondering if this viewpoint had anything to do with his job change??

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Vis a vis, the new British socialist government?

Risk assessment is a vital part of all business planning. Insurers are in the business of risk assessment to determine insurance rates, insured risks and risks that will not be insured, and reserves required to meet expected insured losses. Climate change is a risk factor. Failure to mitigate climate change will raise the cost of doing business and the cost of living for all of us. Insurance companies will deal with climate change risks in insurance rates regardless of what individuals "believe" regarding climate or what governments do to deal with climate change.

The township in which I live is looking at potential road damage from large rain events in its budgeting and fund reserve process. The cost to repair a single road washout could easily cost the entire township road budget for the year, and based on recent year weather and rain patterns the likelihood of such a washout occurring with increased frequency is readily apparent. 50 year or 100 year rain events no longer are unusual. The township also will be looking at rebuilding ditches, adding culvert capacity, and other mitigation strategies in road infrastructure to reduce the likelihood of road washouts. All of this will be costly but cannot be ignored to the peril of residents and the financial integrity of the township. Our citizens already are starting to pay the costs of climate change as it impacts road infrastructure.

The article actually is about the 'Carbon Bubble', the idea that the inevitable devaluation of fossil fuel companies might do more harm to financial markets and the global economy than either AGW mitigation (much of which is cash positive) or AGW damage (much of the worst of which is in the future).

12 mos ago everyone was laughing about the Carbon Bubble concept. Now that the price of oil has been down 60% for a year, with no recovery in sight, and the divestment movement is gaining steam, we have (former) central bankers talking about it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_bubble