European risk managers share the priorities expressed in the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2018 published on 17 January about the threat to the environment from extreme environmental events, the potential failure of climate change adaptation, and cyber risks. 

Like the report, the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) and its members urge companies to use the economic recovery to invest in increasing their resilience.

“We believe that an enterprise risk management process with leadership from a risk management professional gives organisations the most effective way to make these investment decisions,” said the President of FERMA Jo Willaert.

In line with the Global Risk Report findings, FERMA is to call on the European Union in 2018 to incentivise European organisations to adopt more professional risk management structures to deal with climate-change related risks.

“In the context of the review of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, expected to be concluded by the end of the year, we are working hard toward the recognition of the benefits of integrating a professional risk management structure within European organisations” said Jo Willaert.

FERMA also stresses the importance of robust risk governance to implement the risk management decisions of the board and senior management especially in rapidly developing types of risk.  “The Report indicates that cyber-attacks against businesses have almost doubled in five years and there is a significant protection gap between economic and insured losses. Good cyber risk governance is essential for organisations to identify and quantify their digital risks,” said Jo.