Reinhard Mechler presented in DECIPHER workshop on “Enriching forward-looking decision-making frameworks and processes in the polycrisis: a broader business case for resilience.”

As multiple risks interact and crises spread across regions and sectors, the concept of Polycrisis has gained attention. It describes interconnected crises that cannot be addressed in isolation. Many aspects of Polycrisis stem from negative externalities—costs not accounted for in market prices, such as from greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts. While negative externalities are widely discussed, positive externalities—societal benefits from economic decisions—have received less focus. Debates on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) have started to indirectly address positive externalities.

This, as part of, what has been framed as triple resilience dividend benefits: benefits from risk reduction (1st dividend), development benefits (2nd dividend), and co-benefits (3rd dividend). However, despite evidence supporting risk reduction, sustained investment remains low. Reinhard Mechler argued that this systemic underinvestment is due to a lack of conceptual clarity and a lack of solid evidence with regard to the second dividend. To this effect, he provided suggestions for more comprehensively paying attention to positive externalities in DRR and CCA.