It is no news that in the coming years, our exposure to risk factors will be more than it has ever been. In the wake of recent events, many sectors have found themselves falling into new categories of risks. As assessed by the World Economic Forum, a report has come to light enlisting all the metrics about risk likelihood and impact. There are five major categories of risks as analyzed by the WEF, namely Economic, Environmental, Geopolitical, Societal, and Technological, that are currently leading the chart.
According to the leaderboard, Environmental risk has surpassed all the other risks, mostly because of climate action failure. The Paris Climate Agreement, which took place in 2015, has since remained unmoved because of lack of participation by the countries for over five years. Likewise, a heavy delay in the progress of a carbon-neutral economy has also been observed as most countries failed to keep up because of the Covid-19 pandemic and post period.
The top risks by impact include Infectious diseases, Climate action failure, Weapons of mass destruction, etc. Similarly, the risks that have surfaced because of Covid-19 include youth disillusionment and mental health illnesses in particular. These two combined have heavily impacted the youth generation as their years of fun replaced with isolation and distress for an entire year.
Where the economy is in question, the world has seen the greatest Debt to GDP ratio of all time during Covid-19. Because of the lockdown, many industries and companies have gone downhill, heavily affecting the overall economy of the countries. Despite the work-from-home policy and inclusion of Digitization, many firms have reported huge technological risks in the coming future.
All in all, risks are on the rise, and despite all the efforts done by various agencies to drag them down, the impact is very much evident in the form of economic, technological, industrial, environmental, Geopolitical, and Societal instabilities.
Infographic by: Visualcapitalist.com
