What are Climate ‘Derailment Risks’?
We need a rapid transition to avoid climate breakdown — but how do we protect our ability to do so from climate change itself?
Climate change is a risk. It is an ecological risk, a social risk, an economic risk, and a civilisational risk. Climate change has the potential to damage, degrade, or destroy every aspect of our socio-ecological world. Very few people are ignorant of this nowadays. Its risks are recognized by indigenous agrarians as well as by financial analysts. Reacting to, preparing for, and trying to mitigate such ‘physical risk’ is a priority of all.
The broad struggle against climate change and environmental breakdown is usually called ‘the transition’. What you want to transition to, what you want to preserve, and how, are all fraught political arguments. The only overarching theme is that societies must transition to a state that can either mitigate, adapt to, or survive the coming storm — usually a combination of all three.
The Transition itself poses its own risks. Financial institutions worry that successful climate action may — if poorly implemented — hamper markets, or increase inequality. These are known as ‘transition risks’. And as we advance into the Transition period — spluttering and ineffectual as it is thus far — one…
