Global catastrophic risks are putting unprecedented pressure on society and our planet, jeopardizing life on Earth. According to the Global Catastrophic Risks Report 2026, an improved global governance is needed to secure our future. 

The report released on December 15 focuses on five of the biggest risk factors the authors say are facing humanity today: climate change, biodiversity collapse, weapons of mass destruction, artificial intelligence (AI) in military decision-making, and near Earth asteroids. While the probability of each of these risks occurring varies, the impact for large parts of humanity is enormous. The report also explores what can and should be done to mitigate these risks.

Three experts from the Future Earth community are authors of this year’s report. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Fatima Denton, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), contributed to the section on Earth system stability. David Obura, chair of IPBES and Director of CORDIO East Africa, contributed to the section on ecological collapse.

 “This generation bears both the burden and the privilege of responsibility, to realign our systems, reconnecting our world within the confines of a stable Earth system and transforming peril into purpose, providing prosperity and equity for all peoples’, today and tomorrow,” Johan Rockström says in the report.

The Global Catastrophic Risks Report is published by the Global Challenges Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of global catastrophic risks and strengthening global governance to address them.

The report is now published biennially, with previous editions in 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017 and 2016.