The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a grim reminder that emerging risks can sometimes grow into full-blown catastrophes. We’re by no means free of the pandemic’s grip, but it’s not too early to explore how the pandemic may impact insurers, businesses, and society in both the near and long term and what other emerging risks may lie in wait.
The latest edition of the Verisk Perspectives report from the ISO Emerging Issues team brings the institutional expertise of several Verisk business units to bear on this simple-yet-vexing question: What comes next?
A renewed focus on health and safety issues may be one legacy of the pandemic.
In this year’s report, we examine the safety issues linked to air quality—including indoor air—and how human behavior and a changing climate may be accelerating some worrisome health effects. Other pressing health issues, such as the potential impact of the obesity epidemic on insurers and the possible long-term ramifications of catching and surviving COVID-19, are also discussed.
We discuss how, for risks such as civil unrest, the pandemic may serve as an accelerant that drives countries already reeling from food shortages, economic deprivation, and political divisions into deeper spirals of disorder. For others, such as the transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy sources—the pandemic’s impact is still uncertain: Will society be propelled toward a greener future, or will the investment necessary to transition toward sustainable energy dry up?
Verisk Perspectives also features new research that deploys sophisticated computer modeling to detail what could happen if the United States experiences a “flash drought” to which crops and energy grids could be quite vulnerable. Additionally, analytical resources are leveraged to explore how an increased international emphasis on human rights abuses in the global supply chain could introduce new business risks in the years to come.
To learn about these and other topics, you can gain complimentary access to Verisk Perspectives here.