WEF foresees gloomy outlook for global recovery

Survey cites climate change as biggest threat to world economy

LONDON:

Only one in 10 World Economic Forum members surveyed expects the global recovery to accelerate over the next three years, a poll of nearly 1,000 business, government and academic leaders found, with only one in six optimistic about the world outlook.

Climate change was seen as the number one danger by respondents in the WEF’s annual risks report on Tuesday, while erosion of social cohesion, livelihood crises and mental health deterioration were identified as risks which had increased the most since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Global leaders must come together and adopt a coordinated multi-stakeholder approach to tackle unrelenting global challenges and build resilience ahead of the next crisis,” Saadia Zahidi, WEF Managing Director, said.

Extreme weather was considered the world’s biggest risk in the short term and a failure of climate action in the medium and long term - two to 10 years, the survey showed.

Agreement at the UN COP26 climate conference in November last year was widely applauded for keeping alive prospects of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, but many of the nearly 200 nations had wanted to leave the conference in Glasgow with more. 

Climate change is already seen contributing to more extreme weather patterns.  “Failure to act on climate change could shrink global GDP by one-sixth and the commitments made at COP26 are not enough to achieve 1.5 (degrees Celsius) goal,” Peter Giger, Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Insurance Group said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2022.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.