The World Economic Forum’s 20th edition of its Global Risks Report, released today, provides a sobering look at the future of our planet. With escalating geopolitical, societal, technological, and environmental crises converging, the report reveals a global landscape that is increasingly divided and fragile. While economic risks have taken a backseat this year, they remain closely intertwined with other challenges, especially those related to the environment.

Environmental Risks: Dominating the Long-Term Outlook

Environmental concerns have taken centre stage in this year’s report, with extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem collapse topping the list of risks expected to pose the greatest threats in the coming decade. The World Economic Forum’s experts surveyed noted that these environmental challenges are expected to not only increase in frequency but also in intensity.

“From conflicts to climate change, we are facing interconnected crises that demand coordinated, collective action,” said Mark Elsner, Head of the Global Risks Initiative at the World Economic Forum. This interconnectedness underscores the urgency of addressing environmental risks not just as isolated threats, but as part of a broader system of global instability.

Extreme weather events, already a top concern for both short-term and long-term risks, are becoming more prevalent, with devastating impacts on communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world. As climate patterns shift and the intensity of storms, floods, and droughts escalates, the pressure on vulnerable populations will intensify.

Beyond extreme weather, the report also highlights the increasingly dire consequences of biodiversity loss, the collapse of ecosystems, and the depletion of natural resources. These environmental degradations are not only harmful to wildlife but threaten to disrupt entire food and water systems, destabilizing nations and exacerbating existing societal tensions.

Pollution, another environmental risk, is perceived as a significant challenge, with its presence in both the short-term and long-term risk categories signaling a growing recognition of its damaging effects on human health and the planet’s ecosystems. Air, water, and land pollution, stemming from industrial processes and unchecked waste, continue to pose long-lasting threats to environmental and public health.

A Fractured Global Landscape

The report also paints a stark picture of geopolitical and societal divisions, signaling a period of intense global instability. Over half of the respondents predict instability within the next two years, fueled by rising geopolitical tensions, societal polarization, and erosion of trust in governing institutions. This instability is further exacerbated by the growing challenges posed by environmental risks.

Mirek Dušek, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum, stressed the impact of these divisions: “Rising geopolitical tensions and a fracturing of trust are driving the global risk landscape.” He added that this breakdown in global cooperation presents an urgent need for collaboration and resilience to prevent further vulnerabilities from compounding.

Environmental risks, intertwined with geopolitical and technological challenges, could trigger a cascade of negative effects, particularly as nations grapple with resource shortages and the growing costs of climate-related disasters. This “fractured” global order, marked by competition among powers, risks undermining efforts to tackle these pressing environmental threats.

The Need for Global Cooperation

The 2025 report presents an alarming vision for the future, with nearly two-thirds of experts predicting a turbulent global landscape by 2035. Many worry that the mechanisms for international collaboration will come under increasing strain as nations struggle to address escalating environmental and societal risks.

However, amid these challenges, the report offers a message of hope: the need for coordinated action. “The consequences of inaction could be felt for generations to come,” warns Elsner. In this context, leaders have an urgent responsibility to prioritize global cooperation. Effective dialogue, trust-building, and the strengthening of international relationships are crucial for fostering resilience in the face of mounting environmental threats.

While the current geopolitical landscape might be fractured, the report makes it clear that turning inward and focusing solely on national interests is not a viable solution. The complexity and interconnectedness of global risks require renewed efforts to collaborate and address the environmental challenges head-on. Only through global cooperation can the world hope to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, protect vital ecosystems, and ensure a sustainable and inclusive future for all.

A Decisive Decade

As we move deeper into the 2020s, the stakes are higher than ever. The coming decade will be a critical period for decision-making. Will leaders rise to the challenge of navigating a fractured global order, or will the world be consumed by escalating risks? The answer lies in the collective ability to foster cooperation, prioritize environmental sustainability, and rebuild trust among nations.

The Global Risks Report serves as a powerful reminder that environmental risks are not isolated challenges; they are deeply interconnected with societal, geopolitical, and economic instability. How the world responds to these pressing issues in the coming years will determine the stability and resilience of future generations.

Aluminum, the second-most-produced metal in the world after steel, is a crucial material in industries ranging from packaging to electronics and aerospace. With global demand projected to rise by 40 percent by the end of the decade, aluminum production is set to significantly increase, bringing with it heightened environmental concerns. A new breakthrough from MIT engineers aims to tackle one of the major challenges of aluminum production—waste.

The research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a novel nanofiltration membrane that could drastically reduce the hazardous waste generated during aluminum manufacturing. This membrane could potentially help aluminum plants recycle aluminum ions that would otherwise be lost in waste streams, enabling upcycling and reducing environmental impacts.

“Our membrane technology not only cuts down on hazardous waste but also enables a circular economy for aluminum by reducing the need for new mining,” said John Lienhard, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, according to a press release issued by MIT. He is also the director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS). “This offers a promising solution to address environmental concerns while meeting the growing demand for aluminum.”

In a study published this week in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, Lienhard and his colleagues demonstrated the membrane’s effectiveness in laboratory experiments. They found that the membrane was able to capture more than 99 percent of aluminum ions from solutions that closely mimicked the waste streams produced by aluminum plants.

If scaled up, this technology could reduce the amount of wasted aluminum and improve the overall environmental quality of the waste produced by these plants.

The Aluminum Production Problem

Aluminum production starts with the mining of bauxite, an ore rich in aluminum. The bauxite undergoes chemical processing to separate aluminum oxide (alumina) from other impurities. This alumina is then transported to refineries, where it is placed in electrolysis vats containing molten cryolite. Through electrolysis, alumina breaks down, and pure aluminum is separated out.

However, over time, the cryolite electrolyte accumulates impurities, including sodium, lithium, and potassium ions, which reduce its effectiveness in the process. When these impurities reach critical levels, the cryolite must be replaced, creating a hazardous sludge that contains residual aluminum and other pollutants. The amount of aluminum lost in this waste can be substantial.

“We learned that for a traditional aluminum plant, something like 2,800 tons of aluminum are wasted per year,” said Trent Lee, lead author of the study and an MIT mechanical engineering undergraduate. “We were looking at ways that the industry can be more efficient, and we found cryolite waste hadn’t been well-researched in terms of recycling some of its waste products.”

A Membrane for Efficiency

In their new work, Lienhard’s team developed a membrane capable of selectively filtering aluminum from cryolite waste. The goal was to recover aluminum ions while allowing other less problematic ions, such as sodium, to pass through. The captured aluminum could then be reused in the electrolysis process, reducing the need for new materials and increasing overall efficiency.

The new membrane technology is based on a design used in conventional water treatment plants. These membranes, made from polymer materials, are perforated with tiny pores that selectively allow certain ions and molecules to pass through. In collaboration with the Japanese membrane company Nitto Denko, the MIT team adapted this technology to capture aluminum ions specifically.

The aluminum ions in cryolite waste carry a higher positive charge than sodium and other cations, which makes them easier to isolate. By applying a thin, positively charged coating to the membrane, the researchers were able to create a barrier that repels aluminum ions while allowing the other, less positively charged ions to flow through.

“We found that the membrane consistently captured 99.5 percent of aluminum ions while allowing sodium and other cations to pass,” explained Zi Hao Foo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of the study. “We also tested the membrane in solutions of varying pH levels, and it maintained its performance, even in highly acidic conditions.”

Scaling Up for Industry

The team’s experimental membrane is about the size of a playing card, but to treat cryolite waste in an industrial-scale aluminum production plant, they envision a scaled-up version similar to those used in desalination plants. In these plants, long sheets of membrane are rolled into spirals, allowing water to flow through them efficiently.

“This paper shows the viability of membranes for innovations in circular economies,” said Lee. “This membrane provides the dual benefit of upcycling aluminum while reducing hazardous waste.”

By applying this membrane technology, the aluminum industry could significantly cut down on waste and reduce its environmental footprint, all while improving efficiency and meeting the rising global demand for aluminum.

Looking Ahead

With their breakthrough in nanofiltration technology, MIT engineers have opened the door to a more sustainable and circular approach to aluminum production. By reclaiming valuable aluminum from waste streams, they are not only advancing the efficiency of aluminum manufacturing but also helping to address the environmental challenges posed by an industry poised for rapid growth in the coming years

When Andrés Ruzo, a native of Lima, Peru, was very young, his grandfather told him a captivating story—the story of the Spanish conquest of Peru. Atahualpa, the last ruler of the Inca Empire, was captured and executed by Francisco Pizarro and his Spanish soldiers. They became wealthy by plundering the gold and treasures of the Inca Empire. The tale became widely known in Spain, leading many Spaniards to venture to Peru, eager to claim gold and power. They asked the Incas where they could find more gold, and the Incas pointed toward the Amazon jungle, saying, “Go there, there’s as much gold as you need. There is even a city built of gold called Paititi.”

Spurred by these rumors, the Spaniards entered the Amazon in search of treasure. However, only a few of them returned from the jungle, and they came back with more than just tales of gold. They spoke of a tribe of mighty shamans, warriors armed with poisoned arrows, towering trees that blocked out the sun, eight-legged creatures that ate birds, snakes that devoured humans, and, most notably, a boiling river.

Andrés Ruzo grew up hearing these stories, and the image of the boiling river was etched in his mind. During his PhD studies, focused on geothermal energy potential in Peru, the thought of this river resurfaced. He wondered: Could such a river really exist? He posed the question to his colleagues, the government, and even to oil and gas companies. The unanimous answer was no. While warm rivers exist near volcanoes, there were no volcanoes in the Amazon—especially not in Peru. It seemed unlikely that a boiling river could exist there.

Ruzo once shared this viewpoint with his family during a dinner, but his aunt quickly interrupted. “No, Andrés,” she said, “there is such a river, I have been there.” Her husband agreed, confirming the story. That was when Ruzo’s relationship with the Boiling River truly began. From that moment, he set out to prove that the boiling river in the Amazon was not just a myth.

Ruzo ventured into the Amazon to find the river his grandfather and aunt had spoken of. This river is located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in central Peru. As Ruzo described in an interview, as he approached the river, he heard what sounded like waves crashing on the shore. Soon, he began to see steam rising through the trees. The river, which he had first learned about through his grandfather’s stories, filled the air with steam. Upon testing the water temperature, Ruzo found it to be 86°C. The river’s temperature ranges from a minimum of 27°C to a maximum of 94°C. Many hot springs feed into the river, adding to the extreme heat. The river stretches for about 9 kilometers, with 6.24 kilometers of it flowing with boiling water. In the summer, the river is hot enough to kill anyone who falls into it. Small creatures, including frogs and snakes, are often found drowned in its waters.

The only people who live near this river are indigenous tribal communities, particularly the Shaman tribe, who consider the Boiling River sacred. To them, the river is a divine presence, an essential part of their daily life. They believe that Yakumama, the water goddess, transforms cold water into hot. In their language, yaku means water. The tribe uses the water from the river to drink, cook, make medicine, and even inhale the steam rising from its surface.

Locally, the river is known as Shanai Timpishka, which translates to “boiling by the heat of the sun.” But what is the scientific explanation behind the boiling waters of this river?

In 2011, Ruzo began his research on Shanai Timpishka, as little was known about the river outside of the local community. Even the people of Peru regarded the river as a legend rather than a natural phenomenon.

When Ruzo first encountered the river, he too was skeptical about its origin. Typically, rivers with such high temperatures are found near volcanic activity, but the nearest volcano to this river is over 700 kilometers away. So what could be causing the water to boil?

Another possibility was geothermal heat. But to explain the river’s boiling waters through geothermal energy, a massive heat source and a vast system of plumbing would be required to carry hot water to the surface.

With the support of the indigenous tribes living nearby, Ruzo set out to investigate what was truly happening at Shanai Timpishka. Each year, he returned to the Amazon to collect samples and measure the river’s temperature. As he recalls in his TED Talk, his fieldwork was filled with danger and adventure. On one occasion, after a heavy rain, he stood for hours on a small rock in the river, which was flowing at 80°C.

Over the course of several years, Ruzo conducted geophysical and geochemical experiments, ultimately reaching several conclusions.

The Boiling River is No Myth

Ruzo’s first major revelation to the world was that the Boiling River in the Amazon was not a mere myth. Despite not being near any volcanic activity, he began to explain the reasons behind the extreme temperatures in the river. The culprit, he concluded, was fault-fed hot springs. Just as blood flows through our veins, hot water travels through fissures in the Earth’s crust. When this hot water reaches the surface, geothermal phenomena like fumaroles (vents releasing gases and steam), hot springs, and boiling rivers like Shanai Timpishka occur.

Ruzo explains that a large hydrothermal system lies beneath the river. As water travels deep into the Earth, it gradually heats up. This is known as the geothermal gradient. The water, originating far below the Earth’s surface, flows through cracks or vents, eventually emerging as boiling water on the surface. The indigenous tribes in the area believe that the cold water from the river is transformed into hot water by the Earth’s heat—a phenomenon they regard as divine.

The river itself stretches across about 6.24 kilometers of boiling waters. It’s filled with large thermal pools, six-meter-high waterfalls, and other unique features. At certain points, the water reaches temperatures hot enough to rival your cup of coffee, and in some sections, the heat is even more intense.

What is Geothermal Heat?

The Earth’s interior consists of three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The core is in a liquid state, and its temperature can reach up to 6,500°C. As water travels deeper into the Earth, it heats up, and as it nears the surface, this geothermal heat manifests itself in the form of fumaroles, hot springs, and rivers like Shanai Timpishka.

The process by which heat energy is released from the Earth’s core is known as geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is a renewable source of energy that is used worldwide for various purposes, including electricity generation.

Why the Boiling River Needs Protection

Although rivers near volcanoes may have hot water, a river with such high temperatures—away from volcanic influence—is exceptionally rare. However, the area around the Boiling River is facing significant threats. Large-scale deforestation is taking place in the region, and the river is also at risk due to industrial development.

While the heat source behind the Boiling River is an extraordinary geothermal phenomenon, more research and studies are still needed to fully understand it. Andrés Ruzo, in collaboration with local tribes, has initiated major efforts to protect the river. The Boiling River Project, based in the United States, is a non-profit initiative aimed at preserving this unique natural wonder. One of the key goals of the project is to declare the area around the river a Peruvian National Monument, ensuring its protection for future generations.