Global Catastrophic Risks 2026, edited by Johan Rockström, Fatima Denton, David Obura, Manjana Milkoreit, Wilfred Wan, Denise Garcia, and Romana Kofler, published by Global Challenges Foundation, released in December 2025, 57 pp, (online)

The Global Catastrophic Risks 2026 report identifies the risks that can catastrophically affect life on Earth and destroy human civilization.The risks are imminent.Some of them are very close to reaching their tipping points, which means that the changes that occur as a result will not be reversible.The report points out that global problems and common threats require collaboration between states; they require new or improved global governance upheld by states, the private sector, civil society groups, and the scientific community, which assigns clear responsibility and accountability to all stakeholders, respects international law, and can act effectively to pull Earth back from permanent collapse.The world currently lacks such governance; yet, efforts must continue to achieve it.The report maintains that the combination of man-made global ecological crises and the governance crisisthat is, the deterioration of the environment at all levels and states' nonresponsiveness to the crisesis the biggest problem of modern times.The Earth is approaching its tipping points; yet international cooperation among states and other responsible actors is far behind what needs to be done.This is mainly attributable to the pursuit of short-term material gains at the expense of the long-term health of the planet and also to the quality of life for present and future generations.The world's most powerful states and corporate actors have chosen to act recklessly at both domestic and international levels and to ignore the need for robust and concrete actions.Global catastrophic risks have multiplied and diversified over the past decades because of excessive use of the Earth's natural resources, unsustainable consumption at all levels, and Natural Built Social Environment Health