Failure to take action on climate change has been named the number one risk to prosperity in the World Economic Forum’s latest annual risk survey, ranking higher than weapons of mass destruction, cyber attacks and infectious diseases.

Half of the top 10 risks identified by the forum, which met in Davos, Switzerland in January, belong in the “environmental” category.

The report draws on feedback from nearly 800 global experts and decision-makers who were asked to rank their concerns on “impact to prosperity”.

When ranked by likelihood to occur, environmental concerns took all five of the top spots in the survey results. It is the first time one category of risk has been so dominant in the Global Risks Report, now in its 15th edition.

“Climate change is striking harder and more rapidly than many expected,” says the publication, which is produced in partnership with Marsh & McLennan and Zurich Insurance. “The near-term impacts of climate change add up to a planetary emergency that will include loss of life, social and geopolitical tensions and negative economic impacts.”

Worldwide economic stress and damage from natural disasters in 2018 totalled $US165 billion ($244.3 billion). Half was uninsured. The report says concerted action is required not only to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to climate-proof infrastructure and close the insurance protection gap.

The five risks to prosperity ranked as most likely to happen were listed as: extreme weather, failure of climate change mitigation and adaption, natural disasters, biodiversity loss, and human-made environmental disasters.

Only one risk in the economic category – asset bubbles – made the top 10, although the risk expected to increase most in 2020 was “economic confrontations/frictions between major powers,” followed by “domestic political polarisation” and “extreme heatwaves”.

Collaboration is needed more than ever to respond to severe threats to climate, public health, and technology systems, the report warns.

“Stakeholders must find ways to act quickly and with purpose within an unsettled global landscape.”