The Global Business Policy Council has identified five macro trends that will affect the global operating environment through 2022. In this year’s assessment, a common element underlying all five trends is the uncertain role of governance and governments, at both the national and subnational levels.

1. Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality
of Governance
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2. Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
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Five macro trends
will shape the
global outlook
and operating
environment.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
One common
element underlying
all five trends is
the outsized role
of governance—at
both the national
and local levels.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Islandization of the
global economy:
restrictions on
immigration, trade,
and other cross-
border flows are up.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
The nations
that led the
globalized
economy are
now leading the
retreat into
islandization.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Growing debt
overhang:
Driven up by low
interest rates, debt
levels around
the world have
skyrocketed.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Government debt exceeds
the size of the domestic
economy in Italy, Portugal,
Cyprus, and Belgium.
But corporate debt
has risen most
dramatically in
emerging markets.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
New urban
transportation age:
With congestion in
global cities hindering
growth, innovation
appears to be ending
the age of the
automobile.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Traffic delays
cost the British,
German, and
American
economies
about $450
billion in 2016.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Tech metals
supply crunch:
As the global economy
rapidly digitizes,
dependency on
crucial minerals
has grown.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
The battery industry uses
about 42 percent of the
world’s cobalt production,
and more than half of all
cobalt comes from one
country: the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
Rising threat
of superbugs:
Resistance to micro-
organisms is just the
tip of the iceberg as
other health threats
emerge globally.

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Global Trends 2017–2022
The Centrality of Governance
At least 700,000
people die world-
wide every year
from infections
that no longer
respond to
antibiotics.

14. A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in 40 countries.
Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world’s foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney
is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing
advantage on their most mission-critical issues. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com.
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For more information about Global Trends
2017–2022, including a review of how our
2016 predictions have fared, please visit :
www.atkearney.com/GT2017