Geoeconomic Conflict Overshadows Climate in WEF Risk Report

Jan 14, 2026 | Robin Hicks
Eco-Business
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Geoeconomic confrontation has surged to the top of the world’s risk register for 2026, as rising rivalry between major powers, economic instability and technological anxiety overshadow environmental concerns in the near term, according to the latest global risk report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

Half of the 1,300 experts and leaders surveyed expect the world to be “turbulent or stormy” over the next two years – up sharply from last year. Only 1 per cent anticipate a period of calm in a year that has already seen the United States extract Venezuela’s president and threaten to take over Greenland, a violent uprising in Iran, and no sign to the end of the Ukraine-Russia war.