Recent crises—ranging from severe climate events to the global pandemic—have sent shockwaves through today’s globalized world, highlighting the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and supply chains in the event of a nuclear conflict. A comprehensive, science-backed understanding of the potentially global consequences of nuclear weapons use is important for leaders across regions and sectors. In 2025, the United Nations (UN) established the independent Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War that is now conducting the first UN study on global nuclear effects in decades.
On December 3, 2025, NTI’s Patricia Jaworek participated in the first round of civil society consultations convened by the panel. She presented key findings from her recent NTI paper, Global Nuclear Effects: Economic and Financial Fallout of Nuclear Use, which outlines the systemic vulnerabilities that today’s highly interconnected global economy and financial system face in the event of nuclear use.
Jaworek emphasized that globalization has dramatically accelerated in recent decades through cross-border trade and investment, deeply linked financial markets, digital interdependence, and complex global supply chains. These developments have created unprecedented systemic vulnerabilities and the potential for nuclear use to trigger cascading failures and far-reaching economic collapse. Despite these risks, the implications of nuclear use remain significantly understudied and disconnected from nuclear policy, underscoring the need for renewed attention and analysis.
NTI was a vocal supporter of the panel’s formation and will continue to engage with its efforts in the lead up to the publication of its final report in 2027.
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A new paper from NTI, “Global Nuclear Effects: Economic and Financial Fallout of Nuclear Use,” calls for an urgent reassessment of the economic consequences of nuclear conflict amid rising nuclear risks and deep global interdependencies.
NTI engaged in activities to advance practical nuclear risk reduction measures and strengthen the global disarmament and nonproliferation architecture.
NTI Program Officer Patricia Jaworek joined a panel discussion on the devastating humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons and shared her research on the subject.
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