Mark Wilson, the boss of insurance giant Aviva has been getting in on the climate alarm act, with a speech to a city audience in which he outlined his shock at the horrors ahead and explained what Aviva intends to do about it. The bare bones of the plan can be seen here, and is headed by this summary of Mr Wilson's thinking.
If we do not take urgent action to limit global temperature increases to within 2°C the impacts upon the economy, society, and our business will be nothing short of devastating.
To which the only plausible response is "drivel". I don't think there is a single reputable scientist who would support Mr Wilson's view. The IPCC doesn't think this. Richard Betts, the head of climate impacts at the Met Office doesn't either. The academic literature is clear that the target is a political convenience. Even Ottmar Edenhofer, who came up with the idea of a target has confirmed that view. "Two degrees brings chaos" is mainly the preserve of the wilder fringes of the green movement.
How did Mr Wilson end up thinking such nonsense? Well a longer document setting out Aviva's plans gives hints. There in the acknowledgements we find that Aviva has worked alongside:
Aldersgate Group, Carbon Tracker, CDP, Ceres, Climate Bonds Initiative, ClimateWise, Forum for the Future, Forceful Stewardship programme, Green Alliance, IIGCC, NSFM – Network for Sustainable Financial Markets, PRI, Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit, ShareAction, Tellus Mater, UKSIF and UNEP (including UNEP-FI and UN PSI) University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and WWF.
Suddenly his erroneous views on the projected impacts make sense.
When I read all this, I wondered if perhaps I wasn't seeing some rather impressive greenwashing rather than anything more concrete. After all, talk is cheap. However, there are hints in this longer version of the plan that Mr Wilson has already taken concrete steps:
No general insurance for fossil fuels – our general insurance risk appetite excludes providing cover for oil and gas extraction and refining, and large-scale power generation.
Get a load of that! Aviva is going to forgo a century of profits because an alliance of anti-capitalists and crony capitalists has told Mr Wilson that it would be a nice gesture.
And it's not just on the insurance front either:
We will target a £500 million annual investment in low-carbon infrastructure for the next five years...This means more money in renewable energy, such as solar PV, wind and other technologies...
...just as the government starts to kick away the subsidies that are the only thing that keeps it on an even keel. I'm sure investors will be impressed.
But more importantly, the question that must be on everyone's lips is: Why would anyone in their right mind want Aviva running their pension for them?