Economy, energy and weather big risks for Italian firms, finds WEF survey

Economic downturn, energy supply shortage and extreme weather events are the top three risks facing Italian companies over the next two years, with the latter ranking much higher than most other G20 countries, say business leaders from the country taking part in the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Executive Opinion Survey.

The fact that extreme weather events ranked higher for Italian execs than most others around the world comes to light as the country’s risk management association Anra put sustainability front and centre at its annual conference this week.

The event is taking place under the theme ‘Sustainable sustainability: The challenge for risk management’. Anra president Carlo Cosimi told delegates in his opening speech that the time has come for corporate sustainability to be seen as a positive business enabler rather than an issue that applies the brakes.

The annual WEF survey canvased more than 11,000 business leader this time around, from over 110 countries between April and August, to see what risks they fear most in the near term.

Economic risks remain the biggest concern of G20 business leaders polled, as fears over environmental and social threats lag behind.

Like in Italy, the poll found that an economic downturn ranked as the biggest risk for G20 leaders. It was identified as the top risk in 13 of the G20 countries.

Inflation, labour and/or talent shortages, energy supply shortages and an erosion of social cohesion and wellbeing were also identified among the top five risks to G20 countries in the near term.

While Italian executives were in agreement on the threat of an economic downturn and energy supply, they differed from many other G20 countries and neighbours in Europe by ranking climate change as their third-biggest risk.

The Italians placed the risk higher than those in Germany, France and Spain, for example. And extreme weather events, or indeed any other environmental risk, did not appear in the top five risks across Europe as a whole.

The top five in Europe were economic downturn, labour and/or talent shortages, inflation, energy supply shortage, and erosions of social cohesion and wellbeing.

It is likely that the recent floods that hit Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region in May were front of mind for the Italian execs. The devastating weather caused economic losses of around €9bn, with around half of that amount for damage to public infrastructure.

Insured losses were just a fraction of the overall amount because of a lack of flood cover in Italy. PERILS said the May flooding will cost Italian property insurers €377m.