Global Shield Briefing (February 2026)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). The start of every year typically comes with a swath of global risk lists and assessments. From scientists, think tanks, risk specialists, geopolitical consultants, insurance companies – each have their own view. Regardless of the methodology, the message is clear: 2026 is a year […]
Global Shield Briefing (24 December 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). As the year comes to a close, it is time to take stock. Is global risk increasing or decreasing? Is our preparedness building or declining? Is governance strengthening or weakening? Are governments collaborating or splitting? Are people getting more hopeful or more gloomy? Are […]
Global Shield Briefing (24 November 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). Our view – unsurprisingly – is that the world is becoming increasingly risky. The risk from climate change, pandemics, weapons of mass destruction, emerging technologies and mother nature is not reducing. Mostly because the political, societal, economic, technological and environmental drivers underpinning them are […]
Global Shield Briefing (15 October 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Attributed to physicist and Nobel laureate, Niels Bohr, as well as to baseball Hall of Fame player and manager, Yogi Berra (though first stated by Danish politician and a founder of Denmark’s social democracy, Karl Kristian […]
Global Shield Briefing (17 September 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). The critical insight from 2002 book, Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen by Mark Buchanan, is that many catastrophes – whether natural or human-made – share a deep structural similarity. Complex systems can exist in a precarious balance in which small shifts could trigger dramatic outcomes. […]
Global Shield Briefing (27 August 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). “Be alert but not alarmed.” It’s what Australians were told in 2002 to warn them about the threat of terrorism. There was a large-scale media blitz, led by the prime minister. A dedicated hotline was set up – its number helpfully displayed on fridge […]
Global Shield Briefing (1 August 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). Risk can often be quite abstract. Instead, consider scenarios. In the UN Global Risk Report, covered in the first section, four scenarios are presented, with the “breakdown” scenario painting an eery, if familiar, vignette: “In an increasingly fragmented world, the multilateral system is under […]
Global Shield Briefing (3 July 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). A country’s power – its ability to shape the world around it in line with its interests – is so often measured in military might, economic heft and cultural clout. But if that power fuels the rise of global catastrophic risk, what is it […]
Global Shield Briefing (4 June 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). When it comes to national resilience and preparedness, there’s a term that gets easily thrown around but is wildly complex: ‘whole-of-society’. The reality of 21st-century risk, and modern civilization, is that responding to a national crisis is not contained to the cabinet room and […]
Global Shield Briefing (7 May 2025)
The latest policy, research and news on global catastrophic risk (GCR). Global Shield is, as you might be sick of us repeating, focused on “all-hazards” policy. We want governments to take actions that hit multiple risk vectors at the same time. Policies that build awareness, understanding, preparedness, resilience and response to the full spectrum of […]