February 23, 2020 Niamh Harris
Economists at JP Morgan Chase warned clients that the climate crisis threatens the survival of humanity and that the planet is on an unsustainable trajectory.
The biggest bank in the Western world is warning that climate change could lead to the end of the human race ‘as we know it’
Economists at JP Morgan Chase warned clients that the climate crisis threatens the survival of humanity and that the planet is on an unsustainable trajectory.
The report dated 14 Jan notes: “We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened”
The Mail Online reports: In an apocalyptic report sent to clients, economists at JP Morgan Chase said failing to cut carbon emissions could lead to ‘catastrophic’ events such as extreme weather, war, food and water shortages, and devastation of nature.
The American bank said huge numbers of people may have to leave their countries because of rising sea levels or farmland left barren by sweltering heat.
It also issued a warning to say tens of trillions of dollars would be wiped off the global economy’s growth.
The bank’s analysts said the impact of climate change is broad, affecting everything from health and political stress to biodiversity and species survival, and added: ‘We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened.’
The warning – contained in a research paper titled ‘Risky business: The climate and the macroeconomy’ – comes after green campaigners accused it of being one of the biggest contributors to climate change in the corporate world.
JP Morgan provided more than £150billion to businesses linked to fossil fuels between 2016 and 2018, according to the Rainforest Action Network.
Climate activists have branded the bank’s 63-year-old chief, Jamie Dimon – who has an estimated personal fortune of £1.3billion – the ‘world’s worst banker of climate change’.
Extinction Rebellion activists yesterday called on the bank to ‘put its house in order and take action’, claiming it was ‘financially fuelling the climate and ecological crisis which is destroying lives’.
The group said: ‘The report is candid, it exposes the risks facing our civilisations, including natural disasters and conflict, spelling out likely scenarios which create huge challenges for the survival of the human race.’
They added: ‘This is not just the biggest economic problem humanity has ever faced, but the biggest moral one. It is not the incomes of our children and grandchildren we are talking about here but their lives.’
The report by JP Morgan’s analysts contains suggestions which are likely to leave some business leaders aghast.
They said ‘a tax on CO2 emissions’ would be one of the most effective ways to encourage firms to move to using green energy.
However they admitted this would not ‘happen any time soon’ because of concerns in developed countries about the impact it could have on jobs and economic growth, while developing nations fear improvements in living conditions would be hampered.
