Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer

[u/RunAmbitious2593]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/03/climate-crisis-on-track-to-destroy-capitalism-warns-allianz-insurer

The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks, said Günther Thallinger, on the board of Allianz SE, one of the world’s biggest insurance companies. He said that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments.

Global carbon emissions are still rising and current policies will result in a rise in global temperature between 2.2C and 3.4C above pre-industrial levels. The damage at 3C will be so great that governments will be unable to provide financial bailouts and it will be impossible to adapt to many climate impacts, said Thallinger, who is also the chair of the German company’s investment board and was previously CEO of Allianz Investment Management...

...Thallinger said it was a systemic risk “threatening the very foundation of the financial sector”, because a lack of insurance means other financial services become unavailable: “This is a climate-induced credit crunch.”

“This applies not only to housing, but to infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, and industry,” he said. “The economic value of entire regions – coastal, arid, wildfire-prone – will begin to vanish from financial ledgers. Markets will reprice, rapidly and brutally. This is what a climate-driven market failure looks like.”

[u/RunAmbitious2593 → u/[deleted]]

The insurance industry underpins all industries.

[u/RunAmbitious2593 → u/[deleted]]

Insurance, in one form or another, dates back thousands of years. Sure, the world will keep turning, but the point of this article is that capitalism won't be able to function. What will come next could be better, or could be feudalism or hydrolic despotism.

[u/RunAmbitious2593 → u/[deleted]]

If the insurance industry is similarly nonviable, maybe we should get rid of it too. 

The point is, if insurance becomes non viable, so does the entire global economy.

At 3C of global heating, climate damage cannot be insured against, covered by governments, or adapted to, Thallinger said: “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.”

That'll be global chaos. No financial stability means no political or societal stability.

Yes, future governments could be just as polluting. That doesn't add anything here.