The Polycrisis Resource Library is a growing collection of media that help to understand polycrisis, develop strategies to address polycrisis, and build a field of polycrisis analysis.
Reporting on the first day of the World Economic Forum’s 2023 summit in Davos, Time magazine writer Yasmeen Serhan notes that “polycrisis” is the “most ubiquitous buzzword” of the meeting.
In this inaugural panel of the 2023 World Economic Forum summit Adam Tooze asserts that the term polycrisis aptly characterizes the state of the world, while Historian Niall Ferguson dismisses…
Interviewed by Nate Hagens, William E. Rees argues that overshoot is a fundamental issue underlying all environmental problems. Our economy is premised on unlimited growth but the global human ecological…
This 18th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report is based on a risk perceptions survey of 1200 experts on the likelihood, severity, and interconnections between 37 global…
Ian Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan present their top ten geopolitical risks for 2023: an increasingly rogue and reckless Russia; an increasingly powerful and unconstrained Xi Jinping; the weaponization of artificial…
The report highlights the distinctive harms for children and future generations of eight global trends that are part of the polycrisis: continued impacts of the pandemic, inflation, food insecurity, energy…
This report analyzes actionable “tipping points” within global energy systems (fertilizer, shipping, power, etc.) that could produce a cascade of emissions reductions. The technology adoption needed to reach these positive…
The research examines the risk of climate tipping under various temperature overshoot scenarios using a simplified network model. It shows that temporary overshoots can increase the tipping risks up to…
Hugo Dixon argues that the present polycrisis need not lead to a new Cold War or bifurcated world order, but could instead produce a polycentric order made up of multiple…
The Polycrisis Resource Library includes resources that:
Though not exhaustive, the Library strives to present a diverse representation of views on different aspects of the polycrisis discussion, and will be updated as that discussion evolves. Search for resources with the keyword search bar, or by using the drop-down menus to filter for type of resource, global systems addressed, and key themes.
Year in a Word: Polycrisis
Jonathan Derbyshire
Jonathan Derbyshire characterizes the year 2022 as a polycrisis, discusses the origins of the term, and provides the definition: “Noun: collective term for interlocking and simultaneous crises of an environmental,…