SYDNEY, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's top executives are increasingly losing sleep over climate change and global instability, according to a survey released on Thursday by global auditing giant KPMG.
The geopolitical and economic environment has surged to prominence in the 12 months since the last survey, appearing for the first time at number two on the "keeping us up at night" list.
"Many leaders are understandably concerned with the general decline of 'economic logic' and the rise of 'political logic.' The increase in tariffs in the United States and Brexit are excellent examples of this," KPMG Lead Tax Partner, Grant Wardell-Johnson said in the report.
"There is a perceived lack of global leadership with a decline in multilateralism. This rebalancing of power within major economies, and the deep structural change this rebalancing precipitates, is a source of real concern for business leaders," he added.
Sustainability and climate have similarly skyrocketed in the consciousness of business leaders from number 14 last year, to equal 5th in 2019.
According to the report, executives are having to accommodate more, not just for the transformational effects of climate change, but also immediate physical risks such as increased chances of bushfires, storms and droughts.
Meanwhile, remaining as the number one issue keeping top executives awake for the third year since the survey began, was digital transformation.
This refers to the opportunities and challenges of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution," and involves transformations brought about by the internet, big data and artificial intelligence.
Also on the minds of Australia's business elite at number three was government regulation, spurred by a perceived public appetite for regulatory expansion contrasted with big business' aversion to "government overreach."
Rounding out the top 10 concerns were innovation and disruption, public trust, leadership, customer and citizen centricity, political paralysis and effective government planning, while at number 10 was workforce upskilling.
