The World Economic Forum released its Global Risks Report for 2024, and we’ll cut to the chase: It doesn’t look good—but that just means there’s work to be done.
You can probably already guess the primary culprits, but CFOs need to take note: Many of the risks highlighted by the report are existential problems requiring international cooperation, but they’re also improvable with the help of the C-suite, albeit on a smaller scale.
The report draws on a survey of over 1,500 academic, business, and government leaders, plus 200 risk specialists. Notably, respondents were surveyed between September and October 2023, right on the cusp of the Israel-Hamas war. In the next two years, 54% of respondents expect “some instability and a moderate risk of global catastrophes,” and 30% anticipate “even more turbulent conditions,” per the report. And looking forward, almost two-thirds of survey respondents forecast “a stormy or turbulent outlook” in the next 10 years.
We told you. It’s not pretty.
In the next two years, respondents expect misinformation and disinformation to be the most severe global risk, followed by extreme weather events and societal polarization. Within that time frame, the report’s authors note that nearly 3 billion people around the world, including those in India, Mexico, and Pakistan, are expected to head to the polls in critical elections.
“[The] widespread use of misinformation and disinformation, and tools to disseminate it, may undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments,” the report’s authors wrote. “Resulting unrest could range from violent protests and hate crimes to civil confrontation and terrorism.”
Some CFOs and tax experts have discussed election-year concerns with us recently, but it’s likely to be even more top of mind, particularly as the US presidential election draws closer.
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On the flip side, two new issues that are already top priorities for CFOs cracked the top 10 for the first time: inflation and an economic downturn, at number seven and nine respectively. Respondents expect those two issues to become or continue to be major risks within the next two years.
These global risks, many of which are interconnected, will require collaborative solutions—and CFOs can be part of those solutions.
The big guy, of course, is climate. Two-thirds of respondents said extreme weather was the top risk for “a material crisis on a global scale” this year. And in the next 10 years, the top three global risks, in the eyes of respondents, are all climate related: extreme weather events, critical change to Earth systems, and biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.
CFOs increasingly acknowledge their role in the fight against climate change, but in a recent Protiviti survey, in which over 1,000 board members and C-suite executives were asked about the greatest risks their companies may face, climate change didn’t make the top 10 for either 2024 or 2034. If CFOs are curious about what should be keeping them up at night, we’ll take a swing and say looking at one of the biggest risks we may face over the next decade isn’t a bad place to start.
“The future is not fixed. A multiplicity of different futures is conceivable over the next decade,” Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the World Economic Forum, said in the report. “Although this drives uncertainty in the short term, it also allows room for hope. Alongside global risks and the era-defining changes underway lie unique opportunities to rebuild trust, optimism, and resilience in our institutions and societies.”