Extreme Weather Events a Top Concern in 2019
The 2019 Global Risks Report identifies economic worries, major power tensions, political strains, climate catastrophe, and technological instabilities as areas of concern.
Extreme weather events are listed as a top concern in the 2019 Global Risks Report, which The World Economic Forum is highlighting. With Zurich as a Strategic Partner of the report, Alison Martin, Group chief risk officer, wrote Jan. 16 that "risks are intensifying but the collective will to tackle them appears to be lacking. Instead, divisions are hardening and we are drifting deeper into global problems from which we will struggle to extricate ourselves."
The report identifies economic worries, major power tensions, political strains, climate catastrophe, and technological instabilities as areas of concern.
"Geopolitical tensions are rising among the world’s major powers. The world is moving into a phase of divergence following a period of globalization that profoundly altered the global political economy. Against this backdrop, it is likely to become more difficult to make collective progress on emerging global challenges, or on resolving the many protracted conflicts that persist around the world," Martin wrote.
This is the 14th edition of the Global Risks Report. It is based on the annual Global Risks Perception Survey, which is completed by 1,000 members of the World Economic Forum's global multi-stakeholder community. Respondents are drawn from business, academia, civil society, and the public. The survey asked respondents to consider 30 global risks categorized as societal, technological, economic, environmental, or geopolitical over a 10-year time horizon.
Environmental risks are three of the top five risks by likelihood and four of the top five by impact. Extreme weather is the risk of greatest concern, but survey respondents are increasingly worried about environmental policy failure, with "failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation" listed second in terms of impact this year.