Climate change at close range

Headlines claiming ‘Billions of dollars at risk' these days barely raises eyebrows after the crisis, share price plunges, and Bernard Madoff.

But when Mercer said this month: ‘Trillions of dollars are at stake’, you had to ask: from what? From ‘the biggest market failure the world has seen’, no less. That, said economist Nicholas Stern, is climate change – and that is what Mercer was referring to. No arguments with flat-earthers whether or not it is happening – it is. Mercer and investors managing over $2trn warned in a report, because of it, investors will have to swallow costs to their investments of up to $8trn over the next 30 years. It was a big fortnight for combating warming, as S&P announced climate change risks wou...