What is the biggest risk to the global economy?

Policymakers around the world are facing an increasing array of risks likely to hit global growth in the coming decade, reports the World Economic Forum.

An annual survey of 750 experts, published ahead of next week's WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland, cited 24 issues that should be at the front of policymakers' minds in the coming years. Each one had been continuously measured and had increased in likelihood in the past three years, it said.

For the first time, the survey cited the negative consequences of climate change as the biggest threat facing the global economy, notes The Guardian. "A failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation was seen as likely to have a bigger impact than the spread of weapons of mass destruction, water crises, mass involuntary migration and a severe energy price shock," the newspaper says.

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This was followed by the knock-on effects of "involuntary migration", which was also the "most likely [risk] to materialise in 2016". The report points out more than "60 million refugees… were displaced from their homes last year alone, compared to just 40 million in the aftermath of the Second World War," says the Daily Telegraph.

Climate change was seen as being more serious because of the way it interacts with other risks, Espen Barth Eide, the WEF’s head of geopolitical affairs, said. For example, environmental catastrophes will drive more migration. A further threat, geopolitical instability, prevents nations from being able to adequately deal with either.

Fresh concern over climate change comes in the wake of December's ambitious deal signed by world leaders in Paris, which committed to reducing average global temperatures to two degrees above pre-industrial levels. This will require a big investment in renewable energies and nascent "carbon capture" technologies, as well as to support developing countries that are reliant on industrial sectors.

A further risk cited was that oil prices would rebound strongly once they finally reach bottom at the end of their current prolonged slump. This, says the Telegraph, could act to "squeeze consumers and push up global inflation".