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In this photo taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, plumes of smoke are seen rising from explosions over destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025. in the background of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Menachem Kahana | Afp | Getty Images
According to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey published on Wednesday, risk experts identified armed conflict, extreme weather and disinformation among the top global risks for the year ahead.
Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents to the WEF’s flagship Global Risks Report named state-level armed conflict as the most pressing issue in 2025.
Misinformation and disinformation were cited as top risks over the past two years for second year in a rowwhile environmental issues such as extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem collapse dominated the 10-year risk ratings.
Extreme weather events, which include heat waves, tornadoes, and floods, rank prominently among short-term and long-term risks. The climate crisis is causing extreme weather more often and more intensively.
The report says that some 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries are preparing to take part in WEF Annual Meeting. The four-day event will begin on Monday in the Swiss mountain village of Davos.
“Rising geopolitical tensions, the breakdown of global trust and the climate crisis are straining the global system like never before,” said Mirek DuĊĦek, Managing Director of the WEF.
“In a world marked by deepening divisions and cascading risks, world leaders have a choice: promote cooperation and resilience or face increasing instability. The stakes have never been higher,” Duszek said.
The survey examines risks in the short term to 2025, the short and medium term to 2027 and the long term to 2035. More than 900 global risk experts, policy makers and industry leaders were interviewed last September and October for the report.
“The world is in trouble”
The WEF said armed conflict was not seen as a leading near-term risk two years ago, reflecting escalating geopolitical tensions and an increasingly fragmented global landscape.
This was previously done by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is facing its most conflict since World War II, citing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Some of the other short-term risks identified in the latest WEF report include societal polarization, cyber-espionage, pollution and inequality.
“It’s clear that the world is in dire straits, and the global risk landscape is like a squirrel’s nest, where risks are interconnected, overlapping, making the business environment very, very difficult to navigate,” Carolina Clint, Chief Commercial Officer, Marsh McLennan Europe, CNBC’s Silvia Amaro said in an interview on Wednesday.
World Economic Forum President and CEO Borge Brende holds a press conference to introduce the upcoming WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Geneva, January 14, 2025.
Fabrice Cofrini | Afp | Getty Images
Clint said these risks don’t necessarily reflect a new trend that’s emerging, but rather one that’s “getting more and more aggressive.”
“I think we’re living in an era of increasing economic stress,” Clint said. “And I think we have to recognize that fragmentation is not a theoretical problem. It’s something we have to confront today. So it’s led to a more complex and uncertain trading environment.”
