The Hague’s Resilience Story As the home to several international organizations including the International Criminal Court, Eurojust, Europol and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Hague has built a strong reputation as the international city of peace and justice. However, we cannot rest on our reputation. Today we are facing new major challenges such as climate change, […]
The secret of risk management
John O’Dea Risk Management is as old as Methuselah. Although there are no records in the book of Genesis that indicate that Adam and Eve carried out a risk assessment, their world and ours might have been a different place had they given it some thought. The world might also have been a different place had the developed nations – […]
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
Jared Diamond | Little, Brown and Company A “riveting and illuminating” (Yuval Noah Harari) new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don’t, by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steeland Collapse. In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and SteelandCollapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and […]
The digital future of government services
Frank Weise, Cordence, Global Head of Public Sector & Health Care “Digitization is not only changing our business environment introducing completely new disruptive business models but is also offering completely new perspectives to enhance government services in terms of citizen or client centricity, accessibility of services, quality and efficiency. Looking at the demographic developments in many mature economies, digitization can be […]
The Risk of Leadership
A plea for a new search for modern leadership* By Jack Kruf Yes, we have our democratic system as a great set of principles and values for good public governance. Public leadership is embedded in this, at least it should be. You may expect excellent results, because the democratic system traces back to the Greek δημοκρατία 508 BC. From there […]
Confronting the risks of artificial intelligence
By Benjamin Cheatham, Kia Javanmardian, and Hamid Samandari | McKinsey Quarterly With great power comes great responsibility. Organizations can mitigate the risks of applying artificial intelligence and advanced analytics by embracing three principles. Artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be a double-edged sword. While this can be said of most new technologies, both sides of the AI blade are far sharper, […]
RSM Germany: strong risk culture more important than regulations
Source: European CEO. A successful risk management system requires more than just rules and regulations: it requires a culture that works across all levels of an organisation. In the aftermath of the Enron and WorldCom accounting fraud scandals, the US Congress took it upon itself to introduce tighter industry regulations by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. While legislative action […]
WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018
WMO’s latest report on global temperatures, extreme weather and climate change indicators and socio-economic impacts is “yet another strong wake-up call” on the need for more ambitious climate action, according to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres. The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018 was formally launched at a joint press conference with the UN Secretary […]
Dialogue on Risk
Effects of Project Risk Management on Project Success. Karel de Bakker | 2011 | University of Groningen “For almost 4 years, all outcomes of this PhD research project have been presented in English. For a good reason, because English is the leading language in the world of science. However, Dutch remains my first language, and it is much easier for […]
12 Principles of Good Governance and European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE)
Source: Council of Europe Good Governance – the responsible conduct of public affairs and management of public resources – is encapsulated in the Council of Europe 12 Principles of Good Governance. The 12 Principles are enshrined in the Strategy on Innovation and Good Governance at local level, endorsed by a decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in […]
Allianz Risk Barometer 2019
Source Allianz. Technology is breeding new threats as well as business models. Traditional risks such as natural catastrophes continue to challenge while other threats such as cyber, neck-and-neck with business interruption at the top of the Allianz Risk Barometer 2019 for the first time, reputational risk, increasing exposure to intangible assets and volatility and consolidation in the corporate environment evolve […]
An energy transition risk stress test for the financial system of the Netherlands
De Nederlandsche Bank Almost 200 countries have signed the Paris Agreement: a pledge to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius. To realize this pledge, global greenhouse gas emissions will need to be reduced substantially. This, in turn, requires a global transition to a low-carbon economy and energy system. Such an energy transition may give rise to shocks that […]
The Guardian view on warming oceans: a rising toll
Talking about public risks. Now with the latest Global Risks Report 2019 on the table it seems that we humans increase the speed of disruption. We are collectively acting too slow in correcting and managing our common public risks. We bring this editorial of The Guardian under your attention. “What we can be certain about is that the extraordinary diversity […]
Global Risks Report 2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 is published against a backdrop of worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions. If unresolved, these tensions will hinder the world’s ability to deal with a growing range of collective challenges, from the mounting evidence of environmental degradation to the increasing disruptions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The report presents the results of our latest Global Risks Perception […]
PRIMO and UDITE proceed in new cooperation
Paul Gatt, President of UDiTE – the European Association for Local Government Chief Executives – and Jack Kruf, President of PRIMO Europe – the European Public Risk Management Organisation – signed a cooperation agreement for 2019 and 2020 during a common conference on the essentials of city management (in European context), and board meetings executive meeting of both organisations held in […]
What Successful Public-Private Partnerships Do
Elyse Maltin | Harvard Business Review Despite spending $2.5 trillion a year on roads, railways, ports, water, and other public infrastructure projects, countries around the world are still falling far short of what they need to invest, according to one estimate. Thus, it’s no surprise that there is renewed interest in public-private partnership (P3) projects, where businesses supplement public investment […]
John Kerry: Forget Trump. We All Must Act on Climate Change.
Source: The New York Times This week is the third anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. The Trump administration marked it by working with Russia and Gulf oil nations to sideline science and undermine the accord at climate talks underway in Katowice, Poland… …Future generations will measure us by whether we acted on facts, not just debated or denied them. […]
Climate change: Where we are in seven charts and what you can do to help
Source: BBC Representatives from nearly 200 countries are gathering in Poland for talks on climate change – aimed at breathing new life into the Paris Agreement. The UN has warned the 2015 Paris accord’s goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2C above pre-industrial levels” is in danger because major economies, including the US and the EU, are falling […]
Emissions Gap Report 2018
Foreword by Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director United Nations Environment Programme “The world is at last beginning to tackle its fossil fuel addiction. Coal is no longer competitive, and wind farms and solar installations are gathering pace – in Australia, northern Europe, China, India and elsewhere. Electric mobility and ride sharing are redefining transport, especially in cities tired of breathing dirty air. Huge strides in energy efficiency are being […]
Daniel Kahneman: Your Intuition Is Wrong, Unless These 3 Conditions Are Met
Emily Zulz | Thinkadvisor At the World Business Forum, Kahneman explained when people can trust their intuitive judgment and when they shouldn’t. Can intuition play a role in investing? According to Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Memorial Prize-winning behavioral economist, no. During a speech given at the World Business Forum in New York City, Kahneman explained when people can trust their intuitive […]
“Human beings are the biggest risk to innovations”
Inaugural lecture Mariëlle Stoelinga. The Dutch have no problem texting while cycling and are happy to install solar panels, but are troubled by nuclear energy and afraid of terrorist attacks. These are just a few situations in which people act and react based on intuition instead of reason. Because looking at the statistics, one can see that a terrorist attack […]
Cyber risk measurement and the holistic cybersecurity approach
McKinsey&Company. Comprehensive dashboards can accurately identify, size, and prioritize cyberthreats for treatment. Here is how to build them. Damaging cyberattacks and streams of suspicious digital communications have made cybersecurity a top concern of the world’s business leaders. So say the overwhelming majority of responding board members in a recent McKinsey survey. Their answers are further evidence that cyber risk is […]
Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040
By Coral Davenport | The New York Times. A landmark report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.” Read more
Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C
Incheon, Republic of Korea, October 8 – Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, the IPCC said in a new assessment. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society, […]