Once again, the health of the planet remains the greatest concern. Environmental risks, in particular, “extreme weather” and “failure of climate action” appear to be the main risks in the short, medium and long term because of their potential to cause the greatest harm to people and the planet.

In fact, the five most voted risks in the study for the period between 2027 and 2034 have a climatic tint: the failure of environmental policies, extreme climates, the loss of biodiversity, the crisis of natural resources and human environmental damage.

According to the study of WEF, governments, companies and societies are facing increasing pressure to make the transition to net zero economies. An aggressive and rapid transition would alleviate long-term environmental consequences, but could have severe short-term impacts, such as leaving millions of industrial workers who generate a lot of carbon out of work or triggering tensions.

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Economic crisis, the most worrying thing for Spain

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The second most prominent short-term risk is the “livelihood crisis”, an indicator that encompasses increased unemployment, underemployment, lower wages, fragile contracts, the erosion of workers' rights, and other similar factors.

This risk has been described by the Spanish specialists who participated in the survey as the most worrying, followed by economic stagnation and the debt crisis. The report states that this crisis can lead to increased inequality and access to opportunities, as well as to worse health, humanitarian and migratory crises.

The most serious challenge that persists as a result of the pandemic is economic stagnation. Macroeconomic prospects remain weak, and the global economy is expected to be 2.3 percent smaller by 2024 than it would have been without the pandemic.

Commodity prices, inflation and debt are rising both in the developed world and in developing countries. The pandemic and its economic consequences continue to affect countries' ability to control the virus and facilitate sustainable recovery.

Along with labor market imbalances, protectionist policies and growing disparities in education, the economic consequences of the pandemic risk increasing gaps between countries and others.

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Social cohesion and mental health

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The “erosion of social cohesion” and the “deterioration of mental health” are other of the most worrying threats to the world in the next two years.

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Geo-economic conflicts

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“Geoeconomic confrontations”, including those currently taking place between the United States, China, Europe and Russia, will emerge as a critical threat to the world in the medium and long term, and for respondents this is one of the potentially most serious risks for the next decade.

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Growing dependence on digital systems

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Accentuated by COVID-19, this technological dependence has increased cybersecurity risks. “Digital threats are growing and are exceeding the capacity of societies to effectively prevent or respond to them. For example, in 2020, malware and ransomware attacks increased by 358% and 435% respectively”.

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Outlook for the coming years

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41.8% of the experts who collaborated on the study have predicted that the world situation in the coming years will be negative and “volatile with constant surprises”, while 37.4% have anticipated that there will be “fractured trajectories that will separate winners and losers”, and only 10.7% think that there will be an “accelerated global recovery”.

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