Warren Buffett says it's 'highly likely' climate change poses a major problem for the planet

Warren Buffett doesn't think climate change is a major worry for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

In his latest letter to holders, Buffet addressed the topic of climate change as there is a proxy proposal for Berkshire to discuss how climate change could affect its insurance business at its upcoming meeting.

Buffett writes that he is not denying the science showing that climate change will likely be a problem.

But he's just not 100% certain that it will be.

From the letter (emphasis ours):

It seems highly likely to me that climate change poses a major problem for the planet. I say "highly likely" rather than "certain" because I have no scientific aptitude and remember well the dire predictions of most "experts" about Y2K. It would be foolish, however, for me or anyone to demand 100% proof of huge forthcoming damage to the world if that outcome seemed at all possible and if prompt action had even a small chance of thwarting the danger.

This issue bears a similarity to Pascal's Wager on the Existence of God. Pascal, it may be recalled, argued that if there were only a tiny probability that God truly existed, it made sense to behave as if He did because the rewards could be infinite whereas the lack of belief risked eternal misery. Likewise, if there is only a 1% chance the planet is heading toward a truly major disaster and delay means passing a point of no return, inaction now is foolhardy. Call this Noah's Law: If an ark may be essential for survival, begin building it today, no matter how cloudless the skies appear.

It's understandable that the sponsor of the proxy proposal believes Berkshire is especially threatened by climate change because we are a huge insurer, covering all sorts of risks. The sponsor may worry that property losses will skyrocket because of weather changes. And such worries might, in fact, be warranted if we wrote ten- or twenty-year policies at fixed prices. But insurance policies are customarily written for one year and repriced annually to reflect changing exposures. Increased possibilities of loss translate promptly into increased premiums.

Buffett adds that Berkshire Hathaway's insurance business stands to benefit from an increase in property damage caused by the effects of climate change.

Insurance policies, Buffett writes, are typically written for one year and repriced each year to account for shifting risks. And so, if risks - from climate change or otherwise - go up, so will premiums. (And, if existing policies are rigorously underwritten, any losses on a climate-change-related catastrophe will not be crippling.)

Buffett added that inflation alone has increased the costs of repairing cars, fixing houses, and other things that insurance covers. But this is good.

Buffett again:

Think back to 1951 when I first became enthused about GEICO. The company's average loss-per-policy was then about $30 annually. Imagine your reaction if I had predicted then that in 2015 the loss costs would increase to about $1,000 per policy. Wouldn't such skyrocketing losses prove disastrous, you might ask? Well, no.

Over the years, inflation has caused a huge increase in the cost of repairing both the cars and the humans involved in accidents. But these increased costs have been promptly matched by increased premiums. So, paradoxically, the upward march in loss costs has made insurance companies far more valuable. If costs had remained unchanged, Berkshire would now own an auto insurer doing $600 million of business annually rather than one doing $23 billion

Up to now, climate change has not produced more frequent nor more costly hurricanes nor other weather-related events covered by insurance. As a consequence, U.S. super-cat rates have fallen steadily in recent years, which is why we have backed away from that business. If super-cats become costlier and more frequent, the likely - though far from certain - effect on Berkshire's insurance business would be to make it larger and more profitable.

As a citizen, you may understandably find climate change keeping you up nights. As a homeowner in a low-lying area, you may wish to consider moving. But when you are thinking only as a shareholder of a major insurer, climate change should not be on your list of worries.

Read Buffett's full letter here »