Catastrophe For Sale | Planet Finance | FD Finance

This article delves into the concept of disaster capitalism, examining how certain financial strategies and investments are designed to yield substantial profits from events such as forest fires, hurricanes, and wars.

On Planet Finance, there’s a market for almost everything—even for future natural and other disasters that may never happen. So-called Cat Bonds, or catastrophe bonds, allow investors to speculate on the likelihood of disasters and, more importantly, the scale of the damage they might cause. As climate change becomes an undeniable reality, its impacts—such as devastating wildfires, floods, or hurricanes—are proving increasingly difficult for traditional insurers to manage. As a result, the market for Cat Bonds is rapidly growing.

Cities like New York turned to Cat Bonds after the immense destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy over a decade ago, using them to hedge against the risks of future disasters. But how exactly does this market work? And what happens to those who cannot afford such protections?