New STEER framework to help Governments upgrade National Risk Registers for a world of systemic risks

ASRA launches STEER as governments face urgent call to integrate tipping points into risk assessments.

BARCELONA, SPAIN, October 14, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Policy teams in central government departments and specialized agencies, such as in civil protection and foresight, now have access to STEER, a guided framework that helps them ask the right questions about systemic risks, spot gaps in current approaches, compare options, and design context-specific responses. Launched today by ASRA (the Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment), STEER supports civil servants and cross-departmental teams to prepare for and respond to the interconnected crises of our time.

The timing is critical. The new Global Tipping Points Report, launched yesterday, warns that tipping points are now a plausible near-term reality and urges governments to integrate them into systemic risk assessments across national, regional, and global scales. Yet most National Risk Registers don’t do this: they catalogue threats in siloes and miss critical interactions across climate, biodiversity, health, AI and cyber, energy, and geopolitical risks. STEER helps policy teams adopt a new mindset and integrate cascading risks into contingency and preparedness work, meaning governments get more from existing processes and budgets.

Ruth Richardson, Executive Director, ASRA said: “STEER doesn’t promise control; it grows capacity to respond to systemic risks. Fitting alongside existing workflows, it helps policymakers see connections, surface vulnerabilities, and take practical steps that improve emergency planning and adaptation strategies, while also laying the foundation for long-term resilience.”

Key features of STEER (Systemic Tool for Exploring and Evaluating Risks):
1. Two linked pathways: Systemic Risk Assessment (SRA) and Systemic Risk Response (SRR) move users from insight to action through a structured, evidence-based workflow.
2. Built for coordination: STEER provides a shared workspace to engage colleagues across departments, for example: interior, defence, finance, health, energy, and resilience functions, strengthening relationships.
3. A resource library: Complete with illustrative case studies, a data and evidence repository, and explainer materials, STEER is not a “black box” calculator or model, it’s a thinking companion that strengthens and supports priority setting.

Co-developed with 90+ transdisciplinary experts and tested in a broad range of pilots, STEER has attracted 250+ early adopters since its demo release in June 2025 to trial and provide feedback on the tool. Early users from around the world have applied STEER to challenges such as wildfires, extreme heat, cyber-energy dependencies, freshwater resources, and supply-chain resilience, strengthening their knowledge and capabilities.

Azzurra Lentini, Data Scientist, European Commission - Joint Research Centre, said: “Member States, like governments worldwide, need guidance on how to address compounding and cascading risks. As someone who tried the demo version, I've seen how STEER could help strengthen existing preparedness processes by revealing critical gaps and overlaps when risks interact. It's a welcome development in risk assessment.”

David Jácome-Polit, Head Resilient Development Program at ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability, also an early adopter and former Metropolitan Director of Resilience, Quito, said in an interview about using STEER [link to follow]: “Practically, it helps policymakers and technicians to anticipate poor outcomes (e.g., maladaptation) and design multi-solving responses—actions that advance several aims at once.”

STEER is already in use across ASRA projects with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and McKnight Foundation. ASRA has also set up an open community space on Discord for users to share cases and lessons, and will expand STEER’s reach in 2026 through regional workshops and roadshows. Organizations interested in hosting or participating are invited to contact ASRA.

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Dorothy Francis, Special Advisor to the Director Europe Region, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: “Climate shocks, conflict, and health emergencies never arrive alone—these risks are interconnected and have multiple amplifying effects. Tools like STEER strengthen our capacity to assess the connections and take anticipatory action to build resilience in the communities we serve.”

Marie-Valentine Florin, former Executive Director, International Risk Governance Council (IRGC): “In 2018, the IRGC published guidelines outlining what systemic risks encompass and offering suggestions for how to address them. Today, STEER provides a constructive step forward and nicely complements our work. What’s most striking to me is that STEER is not prescriptive; it is adaptable to the specificities of the organizations that will use it.”

Ajay Gambhir, Director, Systemic Risk Assessment: “STEER is different because it's built specifically to help users understand the critical interconnections between risks. It's also grounded in a set of principles essential for navigating systemic risks—including respect for the sanctity of nature, embracing complexity, and enabling transformation—that distinguish it from conventional risk frameworks focused primarily on prediction and control.”

Sarah Hendel-Blackford, Director, Systemic Risk Policy and Response: “We know from the case studies featured in STEER that the most effective risk responses don’t just mitigate harm; they create ripple effects, unlocking multiple—sometimes unexpected—benefits and pathways to transformative futures. Too often, risk governance is framed as disaster avoidance, but addressing systemic risk can do so much more.”

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Media contacts:
Kasia Murphy
kmurphy@asranetwork.org

About ASRA: ASRA (the Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment) aims to mainstream systemic risk assessment in policy and decision-making in response to current and future challenges. Hosted by the United Nations Foundation, this independent initiative advances the field and practice of systemic risk, and advocates for transformative action for the prosperity of all people, societies, species, and ecosystems. Learn more at www.asranetwork.org

Kasia Murphy
ASRA: Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment
+34 676 60 76 05
email us here

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