From climate action failure to monopoly in the tech world — the world needs to wake up to these global risks in 2021, says the World Economic Forum

For the past five years, extreme weather conditions have been listed as the top global risk. Severe weather conditions like cold fronts, fires, floods, heatwaves, windstorms etc., have been the reason for mass destruction across the world, impacting lives and economies.

“There is no vaccine for this, the only action we can do is take sustainable action today,” said Saadia.

Climate action failure ranks high in the global risks list, not just by likelihood but also by the impact. Climate action failure is defined by the failure by governments, corporations and businesses to take up active climate change mitigation measures and help protect ecosystems and livelihoods around the world.

The third-largest threat, according to the Global Risk Report, is environmental damage caused by human activities. As the world progresses and commercialization spreads across the globe, man-made disasters have been beginning to be a massive threat to humanity.

As the world continues to battle the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed over 2 million lives, ‘infectious diseases’ continues to be a global risk. In fact, it ranks as the biggest risk by impact according to the WEF.

The loss of biodiversity is another big threat to humanity. The report defined biodiversity loss as “irreversible consequences for the environment, humankind, and economic activity, and a permanent destruction of natural capital, as a result of species extinction and/or reduction.”

Another risk listed in the Global Risk Report is the concentration of power with a restricted few in the world, especially when it comes to digital assets, which could lead to “unequal private or public access”.

Peter Giger, Group Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group, also called out the “monopolistic nature of large tech companies” and government’s role in regulations to reduce digital dependency.

As the world continues to rely heavily on digital and technological growth, unequal or fractured access to digital networks because of “unequal investment capabilities, lack of necessary skills in the workforce, insufficient purchase power, government restrictions and/or cultural differences” is another risk to the world.

“We have to invest in the future. We have to ensure inequalities are not growing but inequalities are declining,” said Adrian Monck, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.

The world in the future has to come together to face these risks, and thus, interstate relations fracture is another threat. Both interstate relations fracture and interstate conflict have been listed are the likely dangers.

As dependency on digital increases, one of the biggest threats is cybersecurity failure. The world has already been witnessing a growing number of cyber attacks, as companies across the world reported massive breaches in 2020.

One of the biggest impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has been the loss of jobs across the world. As markets and businesses continue to reel under the effects of the pandemic, unemployment, underemployment, lower wages, fragile contracts, erosion of worker rights were listed as the threats by the WEF.