Global risks 2015: tenth edition

Number of pages: 69 p.

The 2015 edition of the Global Risks report completes a decade of highlighting the most significant long-term risks worldwide, drawing on the perspectives of experts and global decision-makers. It sets out a view on 28 global risks in the report’s traditional categories (economic, environmental, societal, geopolitical and technological) but also considers the drivers of those risks in the form of 13 trends. In addition, it features initiatives for addressing significant challenges, which are aimed to inspire collaboration among business, government and civil society communities.

To further inspire action, this year’s report includes a new section sharing examples of risk mitigation and resilience practices. It is intended to contribute to the debate on how we think about global risks, mitigate them and strengthen resilience looking forward to a much-needed collective action to address key global risks, such as the Sendai world conference on disaster risk reduction and the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Part 1 of the report explores the results of the Global Risks Perception Survey 2014. It explains the distinction between risks and trends, visualizes the likelihood of interconnections between risks, and analyses the difference in risk perceptions over different time horizons. Part 2 deep-dives into three topics that emerged strongly from the interconnections between risks and trends: the interplay between geopolitics and economics, rapid urbanization in developing countries, and emerging technologies. Part 3 discusses risk management and risk resilience: it presents survey respondents’ views on which risks have most successfully been addressed over the past 10 years, and shares practices from the public and private sectors that offer ways forward to address global risks.