Quote:For real-life evidence of the already highly destructive nature of climate change, you don’t need to be guided by the counterproductive bleatings of Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. Ask the insurance industry instead. The average payout in claims over the first 10 years of the century was in the order of $50bn (£40bn) per annum. Since then, it has doubled to $100bn, and in 2022, it was an all-time record of $132bn. Part of the explanation is inflation, together with growing instances of shoddy workmanship in construction.
But the overwhelming cause is climate change. Extreme weather events have grown steadily more frequent and destructive. The trend is undeniable, and if maintained will soon render large parts of the world uninsurable against wildfires, floods and hurricanes, if not outright uninhabitable. What we also know is that globally, emissions are still going up, not down, so it is highly likely that these trends will persist, and possibly accelerate. Let’s worry about climate change, not the supposedly existential threat of AI