The July 2026 Global Risk Review identifies geopolitical escalation, climate extremes, digital misinformation, public health emergencies, and digital transformation as five key global risks. The report argues that these risks are increasingly reinforcing one another, creating a complex threat environment in which disruptions cascade across political, economic, social, and environmental systems. Through thematic analyses and […]
Global Risk Review Read More »
This article argues that the Greater Horn of Africa is facing a looming polycrisis driven by the interaction of climate extremes, violent conflict, disease outbreaks, and rising food and fertiliser prices, compounded by weakening humanitarian capacity. The authors contend that these overlapping shocks are mutually reinforcing rather than additive, increasing the risk of famine, displacement,
This article argues that Latin America occupies a distinctive but tension-filled position in the global polycrisis, holding ecologically strategic territories such as the Amazon, the Andean systems, and major wetlands while sustaining economies heavily dependent on extractive models that pressure those same systems. The author contends that climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and pollution
Polycrisis and Regeneration: Latin America Facing the Opportunity to Build New Futures Read More »
This essay argues that climate adaptation is becoming an increasingly urgent complement to emissions reduction as the impacts of global warming intensify, while cautioning that adaptation cannot take precedence over mitigation. Drawing on recent heatwaves, floods, and other climate extremes, the authors show how rising temperatures are exposing infrastructure vulnerabilities, increasing mortality, and exacerbating social
Scorched Earth: Climate Adaptation on a Boiling Planet Read More »
This paper explores how policy responses to the polycrisis seek to reshape Global Production Networks, encouraging new forms of decoupling and recoupling. The author focuses on the EU’s trade policy responses to the climate crisis, especially carbon tariffs and the deforestation regulation. These new measures represent a shift from traditional trade policy and a conscious
In this webinar hosted by the European Banking Institute in collaboration with e-axes forum, Ortwin Renn, AJ Gambir, and Jo Paisley explore how systemic risks emerge from complex interdependencies, non-linear dynamics, and cascading effects that challenge established governance, regulatory, and analytical frameworks. The panel examines why traditional risk assessment tools struggle under deep uncertainty and
Polycrisis, Energy, and Climate Change Read More »
This article argues that the war involving Iran, particularly through the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has driven up oil and fertilizer prices, triggering supply shortages that threaten global agricultural production just as climate pressures intensify. The anticipated arrival of a strong or “super” El Niño is expected to further disrupt weather patterns, compounding
Sky-High Oil Prices. A Fertilizer Shortage. Now Add a “Super El Niño.” Read More »
This article argues that climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequity form an interconnected polycrisis driven by shared underlying causes and mutually reinforcing dynamics. It shows how environmental degradation and social inequity interact across systems, with high-income populations contributing disproportionately to these crises while experiencing fewer of their impacts. The article emphasizes that addressing this
Beyond Climate: Sketching the Anatomy of our Polycrisis and Reflecting on Solutions Read More »
This article argues that environmental change is now an immediate driver of geopolitical instability and market disruption, not just a long-term risk. It highlights how climate change and nature loss interact with geopolitical rivalry, supply chain fragility, and financial risk, creating reinforcing feedback loops that are often overlooked due to siloed approaches to risk assessment
Governing Environmental Risk in an Era of Geopolitical Instability Read More »
This commentary reviews fifteen continuing dynamics of the polycrisis and examines how they have changed over the past year. It argues that global instability is increasingly driven by the interaction of multiple reinforcing crises, including proliferating armed conflicts, escalating geopolitical rivalry, the breakdown of international cooperation, rising inequality, democratic backsliding, and intensifying climate disruption. The
Dynamics of Polycrisis 2.0 Read More »
