Global think tank maps top risk governance failings

The IRGC is an independent think tank that is funded by some of the world’s leading companies and draws on the expertise of pre-eminent macro-risk management strategists and thinkers. The Council says that its aim is to help governments and private industry better understand and manage emerging global risks through the development of concepts of risk governance, anticipation of major risk issues and provision of risk governance policy recommendations for key decision-makers.hideIRGC defines risk governance as the identification, assessment, management and communication of risks in a broad context. “It includes the totality of actors, rules, conventions, processes and mechanisms concerned with how relevant risk information is collected, analysed and communicated, and how and by whom management decisions are taken and implemented,” states the Council. According to the IRGC, good risk governance should enable societies to benefit from change while at the same time minimise its negative consequences. The latest report on deficits in the risk governance process is a continuation of the development of IRGC’s approach to risk governance that is based upon its Risk Governance Framework that was published in 2005. The IRCGC says that the framework is intended to help policymakers, regulators and risk managers in industry and elsewhere “both understand the concept of risk governance and apply it to their handling of risks.” The Council is keen to stress, however, that its framework, that has been further refined through this latest report, is no panacea to all risk problems. The IRGC says that its approach emphasises that risk governance is dependent upon the context of the risk scenario. “A range of factors – including the nature of the risk itself, how different governments assess and manage risks, and a society’s level of acceptance or aversion to risk, among others – means that there can be no single risk governance process,” states the IRGC. “The framework is therefore deliberately intended to be used flexibly,” it added. The Council said that as it developed recommendations for the improvement of the risk governance of such matters as nanotechnology, bio-energy, critical infrastructures, and carbon capture and storage, it became clear that many deficits are common to several risk types and organisations. “They recur, often with serious health, environmental and economic consequences, across different organisational types and in the context of different risks and cultures,” stated the think tank. The identification of these deficits in existing risk governance structures and processes is now another significant element of IRGC’s methodology, it explained. “The concept of risk governance deficits – which can be either deficiencies or failures within risk governance processes or structures – complements the use of the framework itself with an analytical tool designed to identify weak spots in how risks are assessed, evaluated and managed,” adds the IGRC. And, these “weak spots” are the focus of the new report. A full analysis of the report will appear in the April issue of Commercial Risk Europe. To access the report go to www.IRGC.org

Global think tank maps top risk governance failings

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