Capitalism Eating Itself by Fueling Climate Mayhem, Warns Capitalist
If humanity stays on current course, warns top insurer, the "financial sector as we know it ceases to function. And with it, capitalism as we know it ceases to be viable."
According to GüntherThallinger, a former top executive at Germany's branch of the consulting giant #McKinsey & Company and currently a board member of #Allianz SE, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, the #ClimateCrisis is on a path to destroy #capitalism as we know it.
"We are fast approaching temperature levels—1.5C, 2C, 3C—where #insurers will no longer be able to offer coverage for many" of the risks associated with the #climate crisis, Thallinger writes in a recent post highlighted Thursday by #TheGuardian.
There is no way to "adapt" to temperatures beyond human tolerance. There is limited adaptation to #megafires, other than not building near #forests. Whole cities built on flood plains cannot simply pick up and move uphill. And as temperatures continue to rise, adaptation itself becomes economically unviable.
Once we reach 3°C of warming, the situation locks in. Atmospheric energy at this level will persist for 100+ years due to carbon cycle inertia and the absence of scalable industrial carbon removal technologies. There is no known pathway to return to pre-2°C conditions. (See: #IPCC AR6, 2023; NASA Earth Observatory: "The Long-Term Warming Commitment")
At that point, risk cannot be transferred (no insurance), risk cannot be absorbed (no public capacity), and risk cannot be adapted to (physical limits exceeded). That means no more mortgages, no new real estate development, no long-term investment, no financial stability. The financial sector as we know it ceases to function. And with it, capitalism as we know it ceases to be viable.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/capitalism-climate
