Climate Change Could Threaten Trillions in World Assets

Extreme weather brought on by climate change will slow global economic growth and damage the performance of stocks and bonds, according to a April 4th, 2016 study led by the London School of Economics.

Although the study did not try to identify which sectors were most at risk, havoc would result with the destruction of buildings, bridges or roads by storms or floods to losses of agricultural productivity and enforced movement of populations.

The American fishing industry is already beginning to feel the effects of these changes, with warming oceans impacting food webs, causing harmful algalblooms, and inducing northward migration of targeted fish stocks.

Global regulators in the Financial Stability Board (FSB) say all the world’s current non-bank financial assets are worth $143 trillion. “It makes financial sense to a risk-neutral investor to cut emissions, and even more so to the risk-averse,” lead author Professor Simon Dietz, an environmental economist, told Reuters.