Climate Change Is the World’s Biggest Risk
The rise of the machines isn’t the biggest threat to humanity. It is climate change, extreme weather and other environmental factors.
The World Economic Forum surveyed 750 experts on what the most likely and impactful risks facing humanity are in 2017. In a report released last month, they ranked extreme weather as the most likely risk and the second-most impactful, trailing only the use of weapons of mass destruction. Climate change is responsible for driving an increase in the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather events, notably heat waves.
Failing to adapt to or mitigate climate change and a host of other climate-connected risks including water and food crises and involuntary migration also rank in the top 10.
A matrix outlining the most likely and highest impact risks facing the world in 2017 (World Economic Forum)
