Extreme weather events cement position as top global risk

Extreme weather events are considered the second-most material risk for 2025 after armed conflict – but will take the top spot within the next 10 years.

This is according to the 2025 Global Risks Report published this week by the World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of its annual conference in Davos. Environmental risks make up six of the top 33 risks mentioned in this year’s report, and two of the top 10 – namely extreme weather and critical changes to Earth systems.

Last year’s new record-breaking temperatures fuelled more than 200 heatwaves, drought, wildfire, storms and floods according to non-profit World Weather Attribution. Among these, the organisation estimates that the top 26 weather events intensified by climate change caused the deaths of at least 3,700 people and the displacement of millions.

This trend is likely to continue this year, starting with the devastating wildfires that have killed at least 25 people in the Los Angeles area – wildfires that are still not fully contained at the time of writing.

“The escalating use of fossil fuels is intensifying the frequency and severity of floods, wildfires, and storms. Experts attribute US$143 billion of the US$451 billion in weather-related damages in 2023 directly to climate change,” says WEF.

In the US alone in 2024, extreme weather is estimated to have caused more than US$500 billion in insured and uninsured losses. 

Environmental risks will grow in intensity in the next decade

Asked what they foresee as the top risks to global stability in the next two years, the more than 900 experts surveyed annually on this topic maintained extreme weather events in second place, this time after misinformation and disinformation. In the same time frame, pollution is expected to rise to sixth place in the ranking.

And in the next 10 years, environmental risks such as extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, critical changes to Earth systems and natural resources shortages will become the top four risks to global stability. 

This forecast confirms a September report by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which warned that six of  the nine recognised planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to thrive have already exceeded safe limits, with a seventh fast approaching transgression.

Conveying the urgency of climate action in an era of misinformation

Commenting on the report on Linkedin, Linda Freiner, Chief Sustainability Officer at Zurich, which contributed to the report, welcomed the consensus among thought leaders, but warned that more must be done to convey the urgency of the climate crisis to the general public.

“The start of 2025 has been rough. California wildfires, Meta pulling fact checks & DEI ambitions while rejuvenating ‘masculine energy’ to please the incoming Trump administration. But one thing hasn't changed, the way that global thinkers and leaders view global risks in both the short and long-term. I'm reassured that we globally are not losing sight of what is to come. Now, how to get the general public to understand this is where we are currently failing miserably,” she wrote.

But with misinformation and disinformation expected to top global risks in the next two years – and recent decisions by X and Meta to remove guardrails against these risks – this education work is likely to become even more difficult in the coming years.