Member-only story

The Hidden Business of Climate Change

How the rich will profit off our doom.

Angus Peterson
Edge of Collapse
6 min readJan 7, 2025

--

Looking up at skyscrapers against a blue sky with white clouds.
(Image credit: Gallup)

While the vast majority of people will suffer as climate change accelerates, the ultra-rich and corporate elite are positioning themselves to capitalize on the destruction. This isn’t just about short-term profiteering — it’s about long-term structural dominance in a world of collapsing ecosystems, energy shortages, and mass displacement.

The climate crisis is not an isolated event; it is part of a broader polycrisis, including economic instability, geopolitical conflict, water shortages, food system breakdowns, and the erosion of democratic governance. The rich understand this, and they are investing strategically in industries that will allow them to consolidate power as the world burns.

From finance to food, security to surveillance, the oligarchs of the world are not trying to stop climate change — they are ensuring that it benefits them while the rest of us scramble for survival.

Insurance, Real Estate, and Privatized Disaster Response

As climate-related disasters escalate, industries built around mitigating risk for the wealthy are booming. Insurance companies, for example, are exploiting climate chaos by raising premiums on vulnerable homeowners, making coverage…

--

--

Edge of Collapse
Edge of Collapse

Published in Edge of Collapse

Becoming collapse aware in the age of the permanent polycrisis.

Angus Peterson
Angus Peterson

Written by Angus Peterson

Becoming collapse aware in the age of the permanent polycrisis. Follow to get all the new stories: https://anguspeterson.medium.com/subscribe

Responses (10)