Learn the top emerging risk trends for assurance leaders to monitor and mitigate now.
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Quarterly Emerging Risk Report
Stay Ahead in a Shifting Risk Landscape
Gartner’s Quarterly Emerging Risk Report equips assurance leaders with a comprehensive view of 20 critical emerging risks. It uncovers the connections between risk events, their root causes, and potential consequences, helping you simplify complex risk scenarios for executive leaders and risk committees.
Download the report to access:
- A visual map of the 3Q25 emerging risk universe
- Insights into emerging risk misalignment and organizational blind spots
- Clear diagrams that streamline risk assessment and reporting
About Emerging Risks
To drive executive action on emerging risks, heads of enterprise risk management need to limit the number of risks presented to senior management by providing a prioritized view. This approach shifts the emerging risk conversation from information sharing to actionable decision making.
Often, senior management witnesses the consequences of unaddressed emerging risks in other organizations and demands more from their enterprise risk management (ERM) teams. Most heads of ERM believe improving the precision of their emerging risk estimates will help meet this demand. But while this approach can drive a discussion, being more precise won’t necessarily drive action. For example, senior management might be unwilling to spend resources on risks that haven’t fully shown their potential and may have an impact only in the future — such as critical infrastructure risks (roads, bridges, pipelines and power grid failures due to extreme weather).
Another common response to senior management’s increased demands is for the ERM team to present a list of emerging risks ranked by traditional metrics. However, in such cases, senior management tends to focus more on the process of identifying the risks than on the risks themselves.
To ensure senior management acts on emerging risks, ERM should provide a view that is prioritized based on specific potential consequences for the business. Specifically, heads of ERM should:
- Identify relevant business stakeholders to include in the emerging risk selection process.
- Conduct surveys, one-on-one meetings or risk workshops with the identified stakeholders to align their understanding of the risks’ impact to the organization’s bottom line.
Emerging Risks FAQs
What are emerging risks?
Emerging risks are defined as risks that do not currently have a significant impact on an organization but are characterized by high uncertainty, rapid evolution, and interdisciplinary nature. These risks can be new, reemerging, or familiar threats that appear in new contexts, making them difficult to define and anticipate. They are often distinguished from enterprise risks, which are well-understood and managed through established strategies based on past experiences. Emerging risks require a proactive and adaptive approach to risk management due to their unpredictable nature and potential for significant future impact.
What are the main categories of emerging risks?
According to Gartner, emerging risks can be categorized into several key areas. The following categories have been identified as significant in the current risk landscape:
- Technological Risks: This category includes risks associated with advancements in technology, particularly the proliferation of generative AI and its implications for cybersecurity, data governance, and operational integrity. For instance, AI-enhanced malware poses a high risk due to its ability to autonomously modify and evade detection systems, leading to potential data breaches and operational disruptions
- Political Risks: These risks arise from geopolitical tensions, regulatory changes, and trade policy uncertainties. For example, escalating tariffs and trade tensions can disrupt supply chains and increase operational costs, while an unsettled regulatory environment can lead to compliance challenges
- Economic Risks: This category encompasses risks related to economic conditions, such as low-growth environments and consumer spending slowdowns. These factors can significantly impact organizational performance and market stability
- Talent Risks: Emerging risks in this category include workforce skill gaps and the challenges of aligning talent capabilities with evolving business needs. The rapid pace of technological change necessitates continuous upskilling and adaptation within the workforce
- Climate and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Risks: This category highlights the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events and their implications for operational resilience. Organizations must also navigate the growing expectations from stakeholders regarding their ESG commitments
- Trust and Ethical Risks: These risks are associated with the erosion of trust in data and technology, particularly in the context of misinformation and the ethical implications of AI usage. Organizations face challenges in ensuring data integrity and governance as they adopt new technologies