The Global Risks Report T


he Global Risks Report 2022 produced by the World Economic Forum identifies key risks resulting from current economic, societal, environmental and technological tensions.


The key findings of the survey and the analysis are summarised here:


Produced in partnership with Marsh McLennan, SK Group and Zurich Insurance Group, the Global Risks Report analyses the results of the latest Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) which consults with “1,000 global experts and leaders”.


By its nature, the report makes a disturbing read. But its findings provide a useful view of global risks in 2022. The key findings broadly fall into these areas:


• Geo-economic and geo-political confrontations • Environmental risk factors • Societal concerns • Economic recovery


• Digital systems and cyber security threats • Migration concerns • Risks in space


Geo-economic and geo-political confrontations


As the current crisis involving Ukraine and Russia is so graphically demonstrating, geo- economic and geo-political confrontations are


16 © CITY SECURITY MAGAZINE – SPRING 2022


considered as critical threats to the world in the medium to long term and one of the most potentially severe risks over the next decade.


Environmental risk factors


When looking forward to the next ten years, environmental risks are the most concerning to the respondents, as well as the most potentially damaging to people and our planet, with climate action failure, extreme weather, and biodiversity loss ranking as the top three most severe risks.


The report noted: “Climate change is already manifesting rapidly in the form of droughts, fires, floods, resource scarcity and species loss, among other impacts. In 2020, multiple cities around the world experienced extreme temperatures not seen for years.”


However, there is a lack of faith in the world’s ability to contain climate change “not least because of the societal fractures and economic risks that have deepened”.


There’s a general view that the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions must have impacted positively on global warming. But this wasn’t


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necessarily the case as the report pointed out: “While COVID-19 lockdowns saw a global dip in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, upward trajectories soon resumed: the GHG emission rate rose faster in 2020 than the average over the last decade.”


The report highlighted the difficulties in reducing carbon: “Countries continuing down the path of reliance on carbon-intensive sectors risk losing competitive advantage through a higher cost of carbon, reduced resilience, failure to keep up with technological innovation and limited leverage in trade agreements.”


The report continued: “Yet shifting away from carbon-intense industries, which currently employ millions of workers, will trigger economic volatility, deepen unemployment and increase societal and geopolitical tensions. Adopting hasty environmental policies will also have unintended consequences for nature – there are still many unknown risks from deploying untested biotechnical and geoengineering technologies – while lack of public support for land use transitions or new pricing schemes will create political complications that further slow action.”


In this area, the report concluded: “A transition that fails to account for societal implications will exacerbate inequalities within and between countries, heightening geo- political frictions.”


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