The 16th edition of the Global Risks Report, published by the World Economic Forum with support from Marsh & McLennan, highlights the disruptive implications of major risks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that may reshape our world in 2021 and over the next decade.
The report draws on the survey results from nearly 700 experts and decision-makers globally who were asked about their concerns for the next decade, how global risks interact and where opportunities exist to collectively act to mitigate these threats.
Guy Carpenter clients will find report discussion around these topics to be of particular importance:
- Critical analysis of companies’ climate-related risk
- Gaining a new appreciation of “forgotten” risks that are low in probability but potentially catastrophic in their impact
- Anticipating the intensifying operational, ethical, regulatory-related risks due to rapid digitalization.
Some key takeaways from the report:
- Expectations of deepening societal fragmentation and divisiveness as the pandemic compounds underlying disparities across multiple dimensions. Survey respondents expect social cohesion erosion, youth disillusionment and digital inequality to become critical threats within the next two years.
- Forecasts of a more challenging global business landscape for the years ahead as businesses face business disruptions caused by the pandemic as well as growing pressures from governments, their workforce, and activists amid more volatile geopolitical waters.
- Experts recognize the continued risk of environmental threats as well as the polarizing impact of tech, characterized by digital power concentration and worsening digital inequality.
- The global pandemic has shone a light on critical need for risk governance and management. Leaders should take this focus to prepare their organization for imminent threats emerging from the ongoing fallout of the pandemic as well adapt to longer-term transformations.
The Global Risks Report 2021 comprises four chapters:
- Error 404: Barriers to Digital Inclusivity, which discusses the digital divide.
- Pandemials: Youth in an Age of Lost Opportunities, which discusses the impact of COVID-19 on young people.
- Middle Power Morass: Navigating Global Divides, which discusses geopolitical developments that could destabilize the global order and slow critical progress on transnational concerns.
- Imperfect Markets: A Disorderly Industrial Shakeout, which discusses the challenges that come with the growing power and influence of nation states, market concentration in the technology sector and values-driven pressure from consumers, employees and society at large.
- Click here to read the report >>
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