International Risk Governance Center
Overview: The International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) is an independent non-profit organisation that provides policy makers, regulators, risk managers and other key decision-makers with evidence-based recommendations about risk governance. Our expertise lies in systemic and emerging risks that threaten human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. IRGC recommendations recognise the scientific, political, social, and economic contexts of risks and opportunities as well as the challenges due to uncertainty, knowledge gaps, time constraints or policy trade-offs.
Many risks are complex, uncertain, and even ambiguous. In most cases, the potential benefits and risks interconnect. Improvements in the management of risks are essential in order to take effective and efficient decisions and to improve public trust in risk management processes, structures and decisions.
The Risk Governance Framework was developed for IRGC by a team of risk experts chaired by Prof. Ortwin Renn, drawing on a broad analysis of evidence-based approaches to risk management. Its purpose is to provide methodological orientation and empirical evidence to use risk governance concepts. This generic and adaptable framework can be tailored to various risks and offers guidance for the development of comprehensive risk assessment and management strategies. A detailed description of the Framework was published in the 2005 IRGC white paper Risk Governance – Towards an Integrative Approach.
Building on this work and on feedback from practical applications, IRGC’s 2009 report on Risk Governance Deficits: An analysis and illustration of the most common deficits in risk governance focused on the sources of governance deficits and their constructive assessment and management. Further to this, IRGC produced a series of publications to address emerging risks, in particular: Contributing Factors to Risk Emergence(2010) and Emerging Risk Governance Guidelines (2015).
These publications expand the main Risk Governance Framework to address issues specific to emerging risks. Work on guidelines for the governance of systemic risks is also under way. This introduction to the IRGC Risk Governance
Framework summarises the main points of the white paper, identifies potential deficits in the risk governance process and illustrates their manifestation with examples.
