The ninth edition of the "Global Future Risks Report" of Axa, one of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance institutions, was recently published. The report was created with the professional analyses of 4,500 risk experts from 58 countries and the responses of over 20,000 people from 15 countries to a comprehensive risk perception survey.

Until 2019, the No. 1 global risk featured in the global future risks report was climate change. Global climate change was at the forefront of the data not only because of the natural disasters it triggered that caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage worldwide but also because of the risk to global agriculture and food supply security.

In addition to this, the problem of climate migration, which will affect millions of people due to hunger and the drought it will cause, is also a part of the risk of global climate change. Therefore, it is not surprising, of course, that the climate crisis was listed as the biggest risk. However, when the first "black swan" coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise in 2019, the perception of the global risk of a global pandemic and disease rose seven places in the rankings. It naturally took first place and dominated the agenda during that period.

Climate change ranked second at the time, followed by risks related to cybersecurity and geopolitical instability, respectively. Risk perception toward social unrest and local conflicts, meanwhile, ranked in fifth place.

After the easing of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the risk perception toward global climate change is once again claiming its spot on the global agenda as the No. 1 priority. Global cybersecurity risk, including issues like digital theft, robbery and threats, ranked second in the report. This issue has damaged companies and digital-cryptocurrency markets around the world and has cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Climate change on scene again

With the introduction of vaccines and the decrease of the threat posed by COVID-19 last year, the risk perception for the global pandemic regressed to third place, while the geopolitical risk perception maintained its fourth place. When the second "black swan" Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022, catching the whole world off guard again, the global economic-political system found itself facing new risks, threats and challenges, while it had not adequately healed the wounds caused by the main and aftershocks of the global pandemic.

Overall, the current situation is naturally reflected in Axa's 2022 "Global Future Risks Report." Global climate change continues to be perceived as the heaviest, most critical and most dangerous global risk the world has ever faced. For the first time, in the 2022 report, the risk of climate change is listed as the biggest risk on all continents.

Meanwhile, the perception of geopolitical risk moved to second place from fourth for the first time. This is, of course, not surprising in terms of the geopolitical threats and risks posed by the ongoing war in Ukraine. While cybersecurity was ranked third in 2022, the perception of "energy risk" rose from seventh to fourth for the first time, a surprising development. The risk of the global pandemic dropped to fifth and the risk perception toward social tension and street movements took sixth place.

Economy ups its importance

In this study, financial stability risks, macroeconomic risks, and monetary and fiscal policy risks were ranked eighth, ninth and 10th, and entered the top 10 for the first time. It shows that tight monetary policy preferences preferred by central banks are perceived as risk-triggering in terms of recession and macroeconomic imbalances.

On the other hand, risk perception toward natural resources and biodiversity ranked seventh. The expectation of all opinion leaders in the level of public and private sectors and scientists who responded to the survey to produce solutions against risks has decreased by two points compared to 2021. With such a detailed outline of the global risk perception, we hope that the leading countries will show the expected unity in terms of solutions.