The world faced a growing number of complex and interconnected challenges in 2018. From climate change and slowing global growth to economic inequality, we will struggle if we do not work together in the face of these simultaneous challenges. The Global Risks Report 2019 provides an opportunity to place the global risk landscape into context at the beginning of the new year and identify priority areas for action in 2019.
Participating in the press conference will be:
Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum
Aengus Collins, Head of Global Risks and Geopolitical Agenda
Alison Martin, Group Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group
John Drzik, President, Global Risk and Digital, Marsh
Moderated by:
Adrian Monck, Head of Public Engagement, Member of the Managing Board
The Global Risks Report 2019 is published against a backdrop of worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions. If unresolved, these tensions will hinder the world’s ability to deal with a growing range of collective challenges, from the mounting evidence of environmental degradation to the increasing disruptions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The report presents the results of our latest Global Risks Perception Survey, in which nearly 1,000 decision-makers from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society assess the risks facing the world. Nine out of 10 respondents expect worsening economic and political confrontations between major powers this year. Over a ten-year horizon, extreme weather and climate-change policy failures are seen as the gravest threats.
This year’s report includes another series of “what-if” Future Shocks that examine quantum computing, weather manipulation, monetary populism, emotionally responsive artificial intelligence and other potential risks. The theme of emotions is also addressed in a chapter on the human causes and effects of global risks; the chapter calls for greater action around rising levels of psychological strain across the world.