Based on a survey from global investors, engaged and informed Millennials, and Gen Z consumers from India, the UAE, UK, US, China, and France, the latest report shows how India's well-being is threatened by climate change, but technology offers the best chance to create a sustainable future for everyone.
With its effects on health, the environment, and business, climate change outweighs other megatrends as the greatest threat. India, where this sentiment is strong, believes that moving to a low-carbon economy is necessary, shows a new study Megatrends Study by Mubadala Investment Company and Bloomberg Media.
The results are based on a survey of over 1,800 global investors, engaged and informed Millennials, and Gen Z consumers from India, the UAE, UK, US, China and France. The majority of respondents—52% from France, 50% from the UK, 41% from the UAE, and 39% from India—agree that the largest threat is climate change, but only 29% and 27% of respondents from the US and China think it is almost as bad as the effects of demographic changes and disparities. India also feels the strongest about how demographic changes affect quality of life, with 93% of respondents agreeing.
The Megatrends Research emphasises the critical role played by business in addressing the issues raised by megatrends. At 95%, India has the strongest feeling towards it. Nearly every megatrend is rated as having an effect on growth in India. The study has assessed that viewers want global corporations to share their laser-like attention on megatrends, much as the United Nations and other organisations and world leaders do. Investors, millennials, and Gen Z all concur that in order for businesses to perform better overall, megatrends must be included in their business strategies. Also, the respondents concur that businesses that fail to adapt will fall behind.
India and the UAE feel most strongly about the need to transition to a low-carbon economy as a reaction to climate change, with respective ratings of 92% and 93%.
The analysis concludes that digital technologies—led by India (34%), the US (34%), China (32%), and the UAE (31%)—are the megatrend most likely to contribute to the development of a sustainable future for everyone.
The report also highlights the significant exception of business's ability to pave the road for the future. The most enthusiastic countries are India (95%) and the UAE (91%); they are followed by the US (85%), France (84%), the UK (84%), and China (81%).
The UN Economist Network's study commemorating the UN's 75th anniversary, which focused on five megatrends—climate change, demographic changes, especially population ageing, urbanisation, the growth of digital technologies, and inequalities—was published before the Megatrends Study. The megatrends "are the product of human activity, and as such, they can be changed by human actions and policy choices," according to the UN Economist Network.