Grey Rhinos and Deep Risk

Discussions on the impact of climate change within the financial services sector have mainly focused on institutional investors. Talk of climate change is all but ignored in financial planning. Financial planning, however, has a profound impact on society and can play a major role in climate change mitigation. Climate change poses an overarching challenge to financial planning and how individuals plan for their long-term goals. The financial services sector which provides the financial instruments for financial planning faces deep uncertainty, which threatens the stability of the sector. The environmental impact of climate change poses an additional risk on health outcomes for individuals. This chapter presents a review of disparate literature to position the risk of climate change as deep risk which has significant implications for financial planning. The chapter outlines how financial planners can prepare themselves and their clients for climate risks while contributing to climate change mitigation as well.