Our Story
Pursuing the re-alignment of
economy within sustainability
in a climate-changed world
CliMobilize is a Canadian-registered non-profit:
Registration number 1519488-1
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Established by Brad Zarnett and Ian Kaplan, Climobilize aims to unite people to take focused action to protect the planet's ability to sustainably provide for future generations.
CliMobilize engages in ventures guided by 4 criteria:
Meaningful
Impactful
Transparent
Scaleable
CliMobilize & The Scorpion's Tail Club
1. The Name
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The Scorpion’s Tail Club, the flagship initiative of CliMobilize, draws its name from two key inspirations. The first is the Climate Scorpion report, which highlights critical insights into the escalating risks posed by climate change. The second is the well-known parable of the scorpion and the frog, an allegory for self-destructive behavior.
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This name encapsulates the precarious position of the four key financial sectors- insurance, banks, investors and pensions - whose operations are critical to the global economy yet contribute to the very risks threatening their survival. Like the scorpion in the parable, these sectors are at risk of stinging the systems they rely upon, undermining long-term stability.
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The Scorpion’s Tail Club exists to ensure that, unlike the scorpion, these sectors recognize the risks and adopt strategies to achieve sustainable prosperity.​
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2. Four Financial Sectors at the Heart of the Economy
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The insurance, banking, investment, and pension sectors are foundational to economic operations, providing essential capital and resources. However, current practices often drive activities that exacerbate climate risks, destabilizing the environmental and financial systems on which they depend.
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This self-reinforcing dynamic, while unintended, is not inevitable. The Scorpion’s Tail Club focuses on engaging decision-makers in these sectors to rethink their role in enabling economic activity. By addressing their own exposure to climate risks, they can protect their long-term interests and those of humanity and the planet.
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3. Understanding the Sting in the Tail: Tail Risks & Climate Change
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The "tail" in The Scorpion’s Tail refers to tail risks—extreme, low-probability events with outsized impacts, as identified in the Climate Scorpion report. These risks, while historically rare, are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change accelerates.
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Tail risks have significant implications for financial stability. Actuaries describe these risks as events at the extremes of a probability distribution - rare occurrences that can lead to devastating financial and systemic losses. With the planet warming, the probability of surpassing critical thresholds, such as 2°C of warming, has risen above 50%. These risks are no longer theoretical; they are tangible threats to the solvency of both our financial systems and the ecosystems on which they depend.
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The consequences of ignoring tail risks are staggering. For example:
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A 1°C rise in global temperatures has already reduced global GDP by approximately 12% (source).
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Projections of 2–3°C warming point to potential GDP losses exceeding 50%, leading to widespread economic instability. (source)
These statistics are not abstract figures—they represent the growing likelihood of systemic collapse. Ignoring such risks is akin to playing Russian Roulette with more than half the chambers loaded. The Scorpion’s Tail Club seeks to remove these bullets before irreversible damage occurs.
4. From Rare to Regular: the Pain in the Sting
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Historically, extreme weather and climate-related events were rare outliers on a probability curve. Represented by the “blue curve,” these events had low probabilities and occurred infrequently.
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Today, however, we are living in the “gold curve,” where once-rare events have become common. The costs associated with these events—disasters that damage infrastructure, displace communities, and disrupt supply chains—are now part of our everyday reality.
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Even more alarming are the new risks emerging in the far right of the gold curve. These tail risks represent extreme, unprecedented events with the potential to destabilize the global economy. Without decisive action, these “one-in-100-year” catastrophes will move to the center of the curve, becoming frequent and devastating occurrences.
This escalation threatens not only financial markets but the fundamental systems that sustain life, pushing the planet toward what we term planetary insolvency.
5. Eliminating the Sting: a Call to Action
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Risk professionals, particularly actuaries, have a crucial role to play as the early-warning system for their industries. Their analyses illuminate the growing exposure of the financial system to climate risks, providing actionable insights to mitigate these dangers.
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The Scorpion’s Tail Club builds on this foundation by convening senior leaders from insurance, banking, investment, and pension sectors, supported by senior corporate sustainability,climate scientists, and legal support. Together, we explore strategies to align financial practices with sustainability, creating a path to resilient profits while addressing systemic risks.
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​THE BOTTOM LINE:
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The Scorpion’s Tail Club is more than a forum—it is a platform for systemic change. By addressing the unique role of financial institutions in mitigating climate risks, the Club helps ensure that economic activity supports, rather than undermines, long-term planetary and financial stability.
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Our mission is clear: to minimize the tail risks of climate change before they result in planetary insolvency. Through dialogue, collaboration, and action, we aim to secure a sustainable future for the economy, the planet, and humanity.