Environmental risks have once again dominated the World Economic Forum (WEF) list of the most likely and impactful risks facing the world.
Extreme weather, failure to respond to climate change and natural disasters were the top three most likely global risks, according to WEF’s poll of 1,000 people from the public and private sector, academia and civil society.
In fourth place was data fraud or theft, followed by cyber-attacks.
The top global risk in terms of impact was weapons of mass destruction, but the rest of the top five were all environment-related: failure to respond to climate change; extreme weather; water crises; and natural disasters.
The result follows a year characterised by growing macroeconomic worries and heightening geopolitical tensions – described in the report as “the most urgent global risks at present”.
As countries focus their energies on “taking back control”, the report warned a lack of collective will to tackle intensifying global risks could lead to the world “sleepwalking into a crisis”.
Extreme weather events have always ranked high in the last 10 years of the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey, except during periods of extraordinary economic stress.
The risk of “failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation” dropped down the rankings after the Paris climate conference in 2015, but it jumped back to the number two position this year.
“Our survey respondents are increasingly worried about environmental policy failure,” the report said.
