Environmental Concerns Top Global Risks in 2020
World leaders, business magnates and policymakers had one thing on their mind at the most recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; climate change. Every year a Global Risk Report is released at the high-profile event held every January in the Swiss ski village. For the first time ever, the five greatest risks centered around our rapidly changing climate. The issue is urgency. Last December the World Meteorological Organization said Earth could heat up by 3–5ºC, triple the previous estimates that already indicated dire circumstances.
Risks from extreme weather include the loss of human life as well as major damage to property and critical infrastructure. While extreme weather has been a top concern for the past four years, climate action failure is now a close second. The failure of governments and businesses to enact or enforce effective measures to mitigate the problem will lead to more of all four of the other top risks; more extreme weather, more natural disasters, more biodiversity loss and more human-made environmental disasters.
The threat of climate change may weigh heavily on the minds of those attending Davos, but the true test comes when they go back home. It’s easy to talk about your concern, it’s much harder to act on it. In New York City, several measures have been introduced to reduce carbon emissions. The OneNYC strategy launched in 2014 encourages private building owners to reduce their buildings’ energy consumption. More recently, Local Law 97 introduced in 2019 which plans to reduce the city’s overall carbon emission 80% by 2050.
Climate change presents a clear and present danger, how world leaders respond will define the decades to come. The time to act is now.
Read the full report: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2020
