You ask a good question. Why don't the super-rich recognize the potential profitability of responding to climate change? 

One answer is that some of them do. The trend the book points out sounds generationally specific. Younger oligarchs are alive to the problems and possibilities that AGW creates. Another is that, as you point out, AGW will hurt the poor first; the rich nations will be insulated from the worst of it, and the richest of the rich insulated even more. 

You might notice, for instance, that the Pentagon is gearing up for climate wars, identifying places where it will multiply security threats against "American interests" and planning how to respond to it. "American interests" almost always exactly coincide with Wall Street and the Fortune 500.