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Blogs and Opinions

  • 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.

  • New Year’s resolution? Slim your carbon footprint by a tonne in 2021

    Thursday 7th of January 2021

    Get fit, quit smoking, eat healthily. Most years begin with good intentions that often fall by the wayside as life gets busier again.

  • Earth could cross the global warming threshold as soon as 2027

    Thursday 7th of January 2021

    The threshold for dangerous global warming will likely be crossed between 2027 and 2042, research indicates.

  • A 10-year plan to save the world’s soil

    Thursday 17th of December 2020

    This year, COVID-19 has understandably dominated our attention – but another crisis is unfolding silently, beneath our feet.

  • Recovering and Rebuilding from 2020: follow the livestream

    Tuesday 15th of December 2020

    With news of a COVID-19 vaccine and renewed willingness to seek multilateral solutions, the end of 2020 has provided new opportunities to tackle today’s most pressing issues. Join prominent experts to dive into the reforms and actions that are needed to overcome the economic, health and societal challenges that the world has faced over the past year.

  • Why the world needs better – not less – globalization

    Monday 14th of December 2020

    Globalization is the most progressive force in the history of humankind. It has heralded more rapid improvements to more people than any other human intervention. While COVID-19 has temporarily disrupted some cogs in the chains of moving goods, services, people and – to a lesser extent ideas – that constitutes globalization, it has accelerated others.

  • The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was a record-breaker, and it’s raising more concerns about climate change

    Tuesday 8th of December 2020

    It was clear before the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season started that it was going to be busy. Six months later, we’re looking back at a trail of broken records, and the storms may still not be over even though the season officially ended on Nov. 30.

  • 3 ways businesses can harness their might for the good of all

    Monday 7th of December 2020

    Given today’s volatile business environment, is this an appropriate time for companies to make ESG commitments for the future? To us, the answer is clear. The COVID-19 crisis, in many ways, is a clarifying moment. Once again, human resilience has shone through with hope and optimism in the face of hardship, and we know this is a moment to reinforce continued commitments to ESG investing for positive returns and long-term impact on society, environment and business performance.Interestingly, this has also been a learning moment, spanning the exact three dimensions – planet, people and policy – that ESG investing seeks to impact. While corporations have come to appreciate the fact that ESG investing is inextricably linked to shareholder value because it helps shape sustainable business models, the current set of crises reminds us all to act with urgency.

  • How to stop drug-resistant superbugs from causing the next pandemic

    Thursday 19th of November 2020

    More than one in five Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 also contracts a bacterial infection. Absent effective antibiotics, those lucky enough to beat the coronavirus might die at the hands of these not-so-novel pathogens.

  • The Great Reset: Building Future Resilience to Global Risks

    Tuesday 17th of November 2020

    The profound shock of the COVID-19 crisis has challenged public confidence in the ability of leaders and institutions to prepare for unexpected risks.

  • We urgently need a Global Data Convention. Here’s why

    Friday 13th of November 2020

    Data: a word that defines our age. Today, data has assumed a new importance for economies and societies. It is at the heart of almost everything we do, a ubiquitous globalized commodity, easily shared, duplicated and traded. Data is the glue that binds and drives the digital economy, communications, government, social media, the cloud, blockchain, the internet of things, crypto-currencies and even politics. Data offers promise but also peril – it is a tool for liberation, but also potentially a weapon for exploitation. Yet data flows remain largely unregulated and issues around access and ownership are increasingly contested.

  • How doubling conservation efforts could tackle emissions and create millions of jobs

    Tuesday 27th of October 2020

    From declining animal populations to increasing water use, warning signs about our impact on the planet are all around us.

  • Arctic Ocean: why winter sea ice has stalled, and what it means for the rest of the world

    Tuesday 27th of October 2020

    Arctic sea ice plays a crucial role in the Earth’s energy balance. It is covered for most of the year by snow, which is the brightest natural surface on the planet, reflecting about 80% of the solar radiation that hits it back out to space.

  • COVID-19 could distract the world from even greater threats

    Thursday 15th of October 2020

    COVID-19 has unquestionably delivered one of the biggest shocks to our planet in generations. The global health crisis is fast turning into an economic crisis that is likely to have major societal and geopolitical repercussions for years to come.

  • Iceland’s most active volcano may be about to erupt

    Friday 9th of October 2020

    The ice-covered Grímsvötn volcano on Iceland produced an unusually large and powerful eruption in 2011, sending ash 20km into the atmosphere, causing the cancellation of about 900 passenger flights. In comparison, the much smaller 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull led to the cancellation of about 100,000 flights.

  • What are the biggest risks to business? New data shows climate concerns are rising

    Thursday 8th of October 2020

    An overly simplistic view of global economics has fuelled climate denial and skepticism for decades. Some opponents of climate change mitigation policies argue that achieving any progress would require an impossible retrofitting of our economy and result in lower profits and fewer jobs. In reality, in many ways, climate action will help businesses be more resilient in tomorrow’s economy.

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