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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Can you put a price on peace? This study says you can
Thursday 18th of February 2021
What is the price of peace?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.