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Blogs and Opinions

  • Global forces shaping the future of mining and how to navigate them

    Friday 14th of May 2021

    The 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report offers a fascinating overview of stakeholder perceptions of risks, and cautions that if the most pressing environmental risks are not confronted soon, environmental degradation and societal fragmentation will intersect, with dramatic consequences.

  • Want investors to care about natural resources? Put a price on them

    Wednesday 12th of May 2021

    Covid-19 has laid bare deep divisions in society, and its impact has not been felt equally. In a similar way, we do not expect climate change and the degradation of natural resources to have equal effects on communities. The impacts will likely include uneven local effects, increasing numbers of climate refugees, relative price shocks and other opportunity costs.

  • How ‘high-resolution’ climate models will help Europe plan for extreme weather

    Friday 16th of April 2021

    Scientists expect that the frequency and intensity of convective storms will change as the climate warms. And understanding these changes is crucial to ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure to extreme weather.

  • Yes, ESG is complicated. Together, we can simplify it.

    Friday 26th of March 2021

    Around the world, investors collectively allocate tens of trillions of dollars, aiming for that money’s highest and best use. However, in the absence of consistent, comparable, and reliable sustainability information, these investors are effectively aiming with one eye closed.

  • We asked more than 110 investors how they plan for the unexpected. Here’s what we found out

    Tuesday 23rd of March 2021

    Our economy, society and planet are facing many long-term systemic risks. From climate change, water security and demographic shifts to geopolitics, low and negative real long-term interest rates and technological evolution – institutional investors must respond to these challenges – and plan for the unexpected.

  • COVID-19 is challenging the way we think of chemical industry trends. This is how

    Wednesday 17th of March 2021

    • Short-term management has been key to managing chemical supply during the pandemic, but long-term trends are equally important.

  • How can we safeguard and improve the future of global health?

    Thursday 11th of March 2021

    It is clear that COVID-19 has tested global health systems well beyond their limits. The pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on people, society, and economies globally. However, it also presents an opportunity, with health system recovery and improvement now a priority in countries worldwide. There is an unprecedented public desire (and hopefully) the political will to address global health issues, ensuring that as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems are built that are resilient to future shocks and sustainable in the long term.

  • For climate policies to stay on track we must prepare for transition risks

    Tuesday 2nd of March 2021

    The world is well behind target on its climate change goals, but there are growing signs of accelerating action. More and more countries are committing to carbon neutrality in two or three decades. Oil and gas companies are under increasing pressure from investors and activists to do more. COP26 in Glasgow later this year offers the prospect of renewed momentum.

  • Here’s what flood damage is predicted to cost America by 2051

    Friday 26th of February 2021

    Rising sea levels and extreme weather could cause $20 billion of flood damage to at-risk U.S. homes this year, rising to $32 billion by 2051, according to research from New York-based flood research non-profit First Street Foundation published on Monday.

  • COVID-19: The $4 trillion cost of not vaccinating everyone

    Thursday 25th of February 2021

    Rolling out a vaccine to stop the spread of a global pandemic doesn’t come cheap. Billions of dollars have been spent developing drugs and putting in place a program to get those drugs into people’s arms.

  • What can we learn from Nicaragua’s new, preventative approach to storms?

    Wednesday 24th of February 2021

    In a year already like none other, the 2020 hurricane season broke records with 30 named storms, surpassing the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which to date was the most active on record. The last two powerful tropical storms, Eta and Iota, also broke records.

  • Exercise not only helps with mental health – it makes us more creative too, say scientists

    Tuesday 23rd of February 2021

    If jogging, cycling or brisk walks are an essential part of your daily routine, you may be better able to think outside the box than your couch-loving friends or neighbours.The link between physical exercise and improved health – in both body and mind – is long-established, but an active lifestyle also makes you more creative, scientists have found. Researchers at Austria’s University of Graz analyzed the impact of regular exercise on the human imagination and found a clear relationship between healthy lifestyles, positive mood and innovative thinking. In general, more active meant more creative – but why?

  • Can you put a price on peace? This study says you can

    Thursday 18th of February 2021

    What is the price of peace?

  • Leaders with a ‘sustainable mindset’ can help solve societal problems

    Tuesday 16th of February 2021

    The past year has highlighted what will likely be an ongoing challenge for years to come: the increasing frequency of challenges leaders must face that impact the economy, environment and society simultaneously. From pandemics to large-scale environmental disasters, to uprisings over societal injustice, it is clear that we need problem-solvers who can transcend silos – we call those people sustainable leaders.

  • Why succeeding in the post-COVID era means reassessing corporate risk

    Monday 25th of January 2021

    Operating a diversified business portfolio in developing regions means facing a variety of daunting uncertainties – and that was before the current pandemic. These range from global mega-trends and macroeconomic unknowns to geopolitical shifts, regulatory changes, business-model evolution and digitalization, to name just a few.

  • How to build more resilient countries after the COVID-19 pandemic

    Thursday 21st of January 2021

    In 2020, the world witnessed what happens when a global risk becomes reality. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 95 million globally, with more than 2 million deaths. Millions more face the economic effects of the pandemic, with the world’s most vulnerable facing the worst consequences.

  • Health crisis: This is how much waste is being burned in the open every year

    Wednesday 20th of January 2021

    As much as one billion tonnes of waste could be burned in open and uncontrolled fires around the world each year, according to one estimate – close to half of all the municipal solid waste generated on Earth. But even if the true total is a fraction of that amount, the impact on human health and the environment is likely to be profound, particularly for the hundreds of millions of people living in countries throughout the global south where burning rubbish outdoors is the main method of waste treatment.

  • These are the top risks for business in the post-COVID world

    Tuesday 19th of January 2021

    Over the past year, the business landscape has become much more precarious due to protracted uncertainty and confusion in pandemic response approaches, the challenges of vaccine rollouts and emerging virus variants – and spillover effects into other risks.

  • These are the world’s greatest threats in 2021

    Tuesday 19th of January 2021

    The Global Risks Report 2021 is the 16th edition of the Forum’s annual analysis and looks back at a year ravaged by a global pandemic, economic downturn, political turmoil and the ever-worsening climate crisis. The report explores how countries and businesses can act in the face of these risks.

  • Climate change will be sudden and cataclysmic. We need to act fast

    Tuesday 19th of January 2021

    The speed and scale of the response to COVID-19 by governments, businesses and individuals seems to provide hope that we can react to the climate change crisis in a similarly decisive manner – but history tells us that humans do not react to slow-moving and distant threats. Our evolution has selected the “fight or flight” instinct to deal with environmental change, so rather like the metaphor of the frog in boiling water, we tend to react too little and too late to gradual change.

  • Food got more expensive in 2020. This chart shows how

    Monday 18th of January 2021

    After the wholesale price of food first saw a slump during the coronavirus pandemic, the global FAO Food Price Index showed a steep increase since the fall. Most recently, food around the world was 7.5 percent pricier than the 2014-2016 average, on which the index baseline of 100 points is calculated. The December figure is the highest of any month in six years.

  • Mounting e-waste is harming the planet. Here’s how we solve the problem

    Monday 18th of January 2021

    It’s hard to imagine navigating modern life without a mobile phone in hand. Computers, tablets and smartphones have transformed how we communicate, work, learn, share news and entertain ourselves. They became even more essential when the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes, meetings and social connections online.

  • World economy is expected to trail pre-COVID predictions for years

    Friday 15th of January 2021

    The World Bank released its latest Global Economic Prospects report this week, providing us with an updated look at the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the world economy. Striking a cautious tone, the report finds that global economic output will likely remain below its pre-pandemic trend for a protracted period, warning that the pandemic “has exacerbated the risks associated with a decade-long wave of global debt accumulation.”

  • Global Risks Report 2021

    Wednesday 13th of January 2021

    The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2021 is published at the beginning of a demanding decade. Fractures caused by the pandemic are widening gaps in health, jobs and digital access, with young people most at risk of missing out on future opportunities. Meanwhile, worsening environmental and technological risks challenge leadership’s role in healing social fragmentation and ensuring a brighter collective future.

  • 10 global health issues the WHO is tracking in 2021

    Friday 8th of January 2021

    2020 was a devastating year for global health. A previously unknown virus raced around the world, rapidly emerging as one of its top killers, laying bare the inadequacies of health systems. Today, health services in all regions are struggling to both tackle COVID-19, and provide people with vital care.

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