Human activity is pushing Earth beyond safe planetary limits, raising the risk of climate breakdown, ecological collapse and systemic global failure.

The greatest threat facing humanity is not oil prices or even regional war. It is the destabilisation of the entire Earth System which sustains all life on this planet, our own included.

Such is the warning contained in the Global Challenges Foundation’s 2026 report on Catastrophic Risks.

While the world remains entranced by oil prices and small wars, global media and most governments are turning a blind eye to the real threat to our future.

The Foundation has been a voice of caution and wisdom since its first report in 2012. This year its focus is on five specific risks: catastrophic climate change; ecological collapse; weapons of mass destruction; risky military use of artificial intelligence; and near-Earth asteroids.

Commenting on the overall problem, Fatima Denton and Johan Rockstrom (p7) state: “The systems we build now will decide whether Earth remains habitable.

“We are pushing the planet beyond the limits of a safe operating space with more than three-quarters of the Earth’s support systems outside the safe zone. The latest scientific assessment shows that seven of the nine planetary boundaries have now been breached, with the ocean acidification boundary most recently breached.”

In short, we are already building an uninhabitable Earth for our children – and had better change our ways. Fast.

“Every year in the past decade (2015–2024) has ranked among the warmest on record,” it reports. “The long-term trend is unmistakable: the planet is warming at an accelerating pace.

“The risk lies not only in continued warming but in........

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