---
title: "JP Morgan Warns Clients of “Catastrophic” Environmental Collapse"
description: "Prominent investment bank JP Morgan Chase has sent a report to clients warning that climate change could have cataclysmic effects on civilization."
date: "2020-02-21"
modified: "2020-02-21"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jp-morgan-catastrophic-environment-collapse"
categories:
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "banks"
  - "global collapse"
  - "jp morgan"
  - "the digest"
---

# JP Morgan Warns Clients of “Catastrophic” Environmental Collapse

![Prominent investment bank JP Morgan Chase has sent a report to clients warning that climate change could have cataclysmic effects on civilization.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/jp-morgan-catastrophic-environment-collapse.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Minority Report

Prominent investment bank JP Morgan Chase has sent a report to clients warning that climate change could have cataclysmic effects on the markets — and, well, the rest of civilization, too.

"We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened," reads the report, [obtained by the *BBC*](<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51581098>).

## Conscience Raising

The report, authored by JP Morgan economists David Mackie and Jessica Murray, called for zero net global carbon emissions by 2050. Notably, it also reportedly calls for a global tax on carbon — a drastic move that the authors admit is not going to happen anytime soon.

In sum, the report sounds like — if they were to heed it — a potentially massive shock to the system for JP Morgan, which has [invested trillions of dollars](<https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/03/20/jpmorgan-chase-tops-banks-financing-fossil-fuels-climate-change>) in fossil fuels.

## Bread Buttered

Maybe that's why the bank quickly moved to distance itself from the report, telling the *BBC* that it came from an internal team that was "wholly independent from the company as a whole."

The environment, after all, probably [won't get a bailout](<https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/jpmorgans-12-billion-bailout/>).

**READ MORE:** [JP Morgan economists warn of 'catastrophic' climate change](<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51581098>) \[*BBC*\]

**More on JP Morgan:** [*The First Major U.S. Bank Just Launched a Cryptocurrency*](<https://futurism.com/major-bank-approved-cryptocurrency-jpm-coin>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)