Risks for businesses, climate costs 100 billion

The 2023 was yet anotherhottest year ever, the natural disasters broke through the $100 billion damage mark (as insured losses) for the fourth time in a row as a consequence of the climate gone mad. But, for now, the main concern of companies around the world remains cyber pirate attacks.

According to the Allianz Risk Barometer, the annual study on the world of risks (and related insurance), digital hazards, such as ransomware attacks (malicious viruses that strike at random), data breaches and computer system disruptions, are the main concern for companies globally in 2024. In second place is a consequence of the first danger: business interruption. Natural disasters (rising from 6th to 3rd place compared to the previous year), fires, explosions (from 9th to 6th place) and political risks and violence (from 10th to 8th place) register the largest increases in the ranking, based on the opinions of over 3,000 risk management professionals.

The fears of Italians

In Italy, the top three risks are business interruption (which rises from 2nd to 1st place compared to the previous year), tied with cyber risks (which retain 1st place) and climate change, which jumps from 5th to 3rd place, gathering about a third of the responses. In 4th place are natural disasters (up from 7th in 2023), followed by political risks and violence (from 8th to 5th place) and changes in the macroeconomic scenario (from 4th to 6th place). Then, in the ranking of the top 10 risks in Italy, three categories appear in equal 7th place: loss of reputation or brand value, changes in markets and the risk of product recalls. Closing the ranking, in 10th place, is the energy crisis, down 7 places (from 3rd) after the collapse of energy prices and gas in particular.

Global problems