Climate fear fades for Aussie CEOs as economy and tech dominate

Australian business leaders are less concerned about climate change heading into 2026 as disruption in economic activities, tech failures and worsening public health dominates the worry list, the World Economic Forum’s latest survey shows.

The survey of 11,000 executives across 116 economies released by Zurich Insurance Group and Marsh McLennan reveals economic downturn remains the number one concern for most countries, including Australia.

Besides that, supply chain and infrastructure disruption, adverse outcome in frontier tech, and decline in health and wellbeing are ranked country’s top five threats over the next two years.

Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Australia & New Zealand, David Wainwright said the findings pointed to “a striking shift in the domains driving risk and shaping business decisions”.

“Whilst economic downturn has remained a consistent consideration both globally and in Australia, concerns around technology and health have become increasingly dominant and the prominence of climate change and environmental risk perceptions have decreased,” Wainwright said.

He said the rise of declining health and wellbeing as a front-line business risk reflects emerging trends in Zurich’s own claims data.

“As one of Australia’s largest life insurers, the emergence of declining health and wellbeing as a new key concern is both alarming and unsurprising. This issue highlights the importance of resilience and prevention as a continued area of focus for our industry.”

G20 business leaders shared similar concerns with economic downturn topping the chart of risk factor. But the global top five risks also include insufficient public services and social protections, shrinking economic opportunity, and for the first time: misinformation and disinformation.

CEO for EMEA and Bank Distribution at Zurich Insurance Group, Alison Martin, said gaps in social protection has now become a boardroom issue rather than a problem for governments alone.

“These gaps threaten both workforce wellbeing and broader social stability,” she said.

“The time to act is now; by joining forces across sectors, we can help empower people to build financial resilience and secure a brighter future for all.”

President at Marsh Specialty, Andrew George said the rise of AI had intensified the scale and speed of misinformation threats.

“With the rise of AI, the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation is enabling bad actors to operate more broadly,” he said.

“The challenges posed by rapid AI adoption and associated cyber threats now top boardroom agendas.”