23 January, 2026

Just days before Davos, the World Economic Forum released its Global Risks Report 2026 revealing a striking shift: environmental risks have slipped out of the top three short‑term concerns. Instead, geoeconomic confrontation sits firmly at number one, followed by misinformation and social polarisation.  

Does that mean the climate crisis is suddenly less urgent? Not quite. It just means other alarms are ringing louder this year for the 1,300 global leaders and risk experts who were surveyed.  

But look a decade ahead and the picture snaps back into focus. Extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and critical change to Earth systems, climb back to the top of the list and leaders’ concerns. Environmental risks haven’t disappeared; they’re just hidden behind the thick, smoky haze of conflict and polarising narratives fuelled by technological risks like misinformation. Inequality also was voted once again as the most interconnected risk (not surprising, but worth noting).  

Global risks don’t compete; they collide. Greenland is a clear example. As Sengupta notes in the New York Times, the island is a geopolitical hotspot: oil, minerals, potential Arctic trade routes and renewed great‑power interest. It’s also one of the places where climate change is happening the fastest: melting ice sheets, rising seas and affecting ocean currents in ways that could reshape weather everywhere. That might not be quite the reason it’s grabbing headlines in Davos this week. But it shows us that the world’s biggest risks aren’t fighting for the top spot, they’re colliding and melting together underneath.  

At Good Business, we see this as a clear signal for government, business and civil society to stay focused, own the transformation the world needs, and find real ways to collaborate. We help the organisations of the future make that happen. 

By Sarah Forero