M01 · foundationsProposed
Foundations and Governance
Every area rests on the same few commitments: a single identifier that identifies an artefact without certifying it.
10areas8standards43external
Standards · Open standards for systemic risk
Proposed · open for review and comment
Nexus Standards
Open, machine-readable standards that help institutions identify, describe, verify and cite risk information across sectors and borders. They connect existing international standards rather than replace them. A validator report is evidence for review, not a conformance claim.
01Why
Why open, machine-readable standards
Risk information crosses sectors and borders. One open, machine-readable set of rules lets every institution identify, describe, verify and cite it the same way, and connects the international standards already in use instead of replacing them.
Foundation standards18NS-0 to NS-16 and NS-3b: the shared rules
Risk standards348in 15 series, from the risk core to system profiles
Programmes20163 areas by hazard, sector and framework
External standards253cited, profiled or crosswalked, never republished
Issuing bodies169whose standards the catalogue relates
- Identify · NS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments). Proposed.
- Describe · NS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority). Proposed.
- Verify · NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation). Proposed.
- Cite · NS-2Citation and attribution format for UNIs. Proposed.
Counts from the Nexus Standards registry (standards index pinned 2026-10-21; external standards and bodies from the catalogue’s crosswalk register). Every standard is proposed until the Global Standards Council adopts it; licence CC BY 4.0.
02Observatory
The standards, their crosswalks and where they come from
The risk standards and their crosswalks in 3D, and where the bodies behind the 253 external standards sit, region by region; the globe of the 169 issuing bodies opens the page.
The risk standards and their crosswalks
Each ring is a series. Drag to turn the figure. Select a standard to see its crosswalks and dependencies.
FIG. 1 · The risk standards by series, with their crosswalks to external standards and their dependencies. Source: the Standards registry.
03Catalogue
The catalogue at a glance
Three ways in: the foundation standards every area rests on, the risk standards by series, and the programmes that group the areas by field.
- 18 foundation standardsNS-0 to NS-16 and NS-3b: identifiers, records, clauses, verification, development and conformance.
- 348 risk standards in 15 seriesFrom the risk core to hazard families, finance, policy, technology and system profiles.
- 20 programmes, 163 areasEach programme groups the areas of one field, from climate to finance, and has its own home.
Foundations and trust4 programmes · 39 areas.
M16 · capabilityProposed
Data and Evidence
Every claim in the ecosystem is only as reliable as the record behind it.
8areas12standards41externalM17 · capabilityProposed
Trust, Verification and Assurance
Assurance in this programme means evidence that any party can check: who evaluated what, against which clause, with which result and when.
10areas10standards44externalM18 · infrastructureProposed
Open Infrastructure and Developers
Standards are used through registries, resolvers, APIs, deployments and monitors.
11areas13standards44external
Earth and living systems6 programmes · 36 areas.
M02 · domainProposed
Climate and Earth Systems
Climate, atmosphere, oceans, land and biodiversity are one coupled system: heat, water and carbon move between them.
10areas9standards25externalM03 · domainProposed
Water and Food Systems
Water allocation, crop production and food access fail together: a drought shows first in a basin, then in a harvest.
6areas8standards26externalM05 · domainProposed
Health and Biosecurity
Human, animal and environmental health share pathogens, data systems and surge capacity, so an outbreak is also a logistics.
6areas6standards14externalM04 · domainProposed
Energy and Critical Infrastructure
Power, fuel, telecommunications, water and transport are interdependent networks.
5areas6standards19externalM06 · domainProposed
Cities and the Built Environment
Cities concentrate exposure: people, buildings and networks share the same streets, codes and service footprints.
5areas7standards13externalM15 · sectorProposed
Space and Earth Observation
Satellites observe every other system and depend on a space environment that can itself fail.
4areas7standards20external
Hazards and warning3 programmes · 18 areas.
M07 · hazardProposed
Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction
Hazards rarely arrive alone: an earthquake triggers landslides, a cyclone a flood, a heatwave a wildfire and a power failure.
11areas8standards22externalM08 · hazardProposed
Early Warning and Anticipatory Action
A warning helps only if it reaches people with time to act and if the action it triggers was agreed in advance.
3areas5standards14externalM14 · disciplineProposed
Systemic Risks
Some risks live in the connections between systems, or on horizons beyond any budget cycle.
4areas9standards14external
Economy and society5 programmes · 48 areas.
M09 · sectorProposed
Finance, Insurance and the Economy
Risk becomes financial when it is priced, insured, lent against or disclosed, and it becomes systemic when those positions move together.
15areas6standards41externalM10 · sectorProposed
Industry, Trade and Supply Chains
Production and trade run on long chains of suppliers, carriers and chokepoints; a disruption at one node reaches firms that never knew it existed.
7areas8standards26externalM11 · sectorProposed
Digital, Cyber and AI
Digital systems, cyber threats and AI models now sit inside the records and decisions of every other system.
9areas6standards35externalM12 · hazardProposed
Governance, Security and Society
Institutions, conflict, information integrity and public trust determine whether any other risk can be managed.
8areas10standards23externalM13 · multilateralProposed
Humanitarian Action and Development
Humanitarian response and development planning serve the same people and places at different horizons.
9areas7standards26external
Adoption and community2 programmes · 22 areas.
M19 · readinessProposed
Readiness and Adoption
Adoption is a process rather than a designation: an institution, a country or a chapter determines what evidence it requires and assesses it under.
9areas10standards34externalM20 · communityProposed
Communities, Learning and Contribution
Standards remain current through the people who draft, review, teach and translate them.
13areas13standards44external
04Console
The standards, as a process you can run
Select a scenario and press Play: how the catalogue is built, how an identifier is allocated and resolved, how a standard moves from open to adopted, how conformance is verified, how external standards are related, who decides, how a release is published and how to take part. Design, not a register.
Standards · codify and correct
Standard lifecycle
Standard lifecycle · NS-11 lifecycle · NS-1 lifecycle · NS-2 lifecycle · NS-13 track · Contribution channels · IETF track · W3C track · OGC track · OASIS track · ISO and IEC stages · Conformance · Record lifecycle · Routing · Monitoring.
Cycle findings become change proposals, the Global Standards Council adopts after a public last call, and each country decides its own adoption.
01 Route missions
- 01Route missions to standards and profilesStep · Nexus StandardsNexus Standards routes each candidate mission to the standards and profiles that apply.
02 Profiles and conformance
- 02Compose mission profilesStep · Nexus StandardsNexus Standards composes mission profiles and records any national adoption the missions depend on.
- 03Validate build outputs against the profilesStep · Nexus StandardsNexus Standards validates build outputs against the composed profiles and records the evidence.
- 04Monitor conformance and record sealed evidenceStep · Nexus StandardsDuring Action Week Nexus Standards monitors conformance and logs deviations.
03 Proposals and review
- 05Deviations and corrections become change proposalsStep · Nexus StandardsDeviations become change proposals, and the correction is recorded as a change to the evidence.
- 06Cycle findings become change proposalsStep · Nexus StandardsFindings from a cycle become change proposals: method and correction findings from Reports (F06) and docket items from Nexus…
- 07Draft and revise in the openStep · Committees and working groupsTechnical committees and working groups draft and revise the standards in the open process of NS-13.
- 08Review toward a council decisionStep · Nexus StandardsNexus Standards moves change proposals through review toward a council decision.
04 Council decision
- 09Public last callStep · Global Standards CouncilThe Global Standards Council adopts by a two-thirds majority after a ninety-day last call.
- 10Global adoption of a standardDecision · Global Standards CouncilThe Global Standards Council decides the adoption of each standard after public last call.
05 Publish and identify
- 11Assign a UNI and publishStep · Secretariat (GCRI Canada)Nexus Standards assigns UNIs and deposits publications under the publisher’s process.
- 12A UNI identifies and never certifiesRecord · Nexus StandardsEvery object of the programme year carries one identifier, a UNI under NS-1, so that it can be cited, versioned and resolved.
- 13Publish the year’s adopted changesStep · Nexus StandardsAt renewal Nexus Standards publishes the year’s adopted changes and national adoption status.
06 National adoption and application
- 14National adoption by the National Standards CouncilDecision · National Standards CouncilEach country’s National Standards Council decides national adoption: adopt as is, adopt with a profile (NS-16), adapt, or reference only.
- 15Adopted standards reach courses and editionsStep · Nexus StandardsEach adopted standard or profile becomes a course module in Risk Academy (F09), and standards are applied in Reports editions (R1).
- 16Adoption is final for each jurisdictionStandard · National Standards CouncilAdoption is final for each jurisdiction, and the GSC has no veto over a national decision. No global body holds a veto.
- 17National adoption recordsRecord · Nexus StandardsComposed mission profiles and national adoption records go to the Foundry at readiness preparation (F08).
Nexus Standards · Nexus Standards (institution) · National Standards CouncilAn outline of the designed programme cycle, not a record of operation: no cycle has run and every programme is at service level R0. Every Nexus Standard is at the PROPOSED stage and nexustandards.com governs the text and status of each one. A UNI identifies and never certifies; a validator report is evidence for review, not a conformance claim.
05Standards
The standards, and what they are
The registers first; the programme’s role, the full set, the principles, the crosswalk graph, the licence, readiness, implementations and the source files one tab away.
Foundation standards and risk standards
The foundation standards set the shared rules. The risk standards apply them to a field of risk. None is adopted yet: every document is a proposed draft, open for review and comment.
Foundation standards · 18
- NS-0SubjectConstitution and principlesStatusproposed
- NS-1SubjectThe UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)Statusproposed
- NS-2SubjectCitation and attribution format for UNIsStatusproposed
- NS-3SubjectRisk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)Statusproposed
- NS-3bSubjectDataset and product metadata profile (STAC, DCAT, PROV-O)Statusproposed
- NS-4SubjectStructure and drafting of Nexus Standards and documents (v0.2: clause structure, verbal forms, registered requirements; document front matter)Statusproposed
- NS-5SubjectFigure, map and visualisation standard (with the UI/UX kit)Statusproposed
- NS-6SubjectSurface wiring (API header, panel provenance, passports, OpenAPI)Statusspecified
- NS-7SubjectResolver landing pages, page meta tags, sitemapStatusspecified
- NS-8SubjectZenodo publishing workflow with legal gate, DOI write-back, Software Heritage archivalStatusopen
- NS-9SubjectContextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)Statusproposed
- NS-10SubjectPolicies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)Statusproposed
- NS-11SubjectVerification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)Statusproposed
- NS-12SubjectSoftware, model and AI/ML artefacts (supply chain, model cards, dataset sheets)Statusproposed
- NS-13SubjectStandards development process (open proposals, review, versioning, adoption)Statusproposed
- NS-14SubjectConformance and crosswalk to external standardsStatusproposed
- NS-15SubjectSystem model binding (identity levels, passports, chronotopes, relationships, risk routes and engines, cell intelligence, agent genomes)Statusproposed
- NS-16SubjectUNI application profile (context names such as NXS-GRX-WAT-CAN; how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)Statusproposed
Risk standards by series · 348
| Series | Scope | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| NRS-C | Risk coreShared by every other series: vocabulary, method, data, evidence, models, clauses. | 16 |
| NRS-N | Anchor nexus streamsWater, energy, food, health, biodiversity and infrastructure, and the nexus that couples them. | 7 |
| NRS-T | Exponential technologyThe risk of each technology and the assurance of its use in risk work. | 18 |
| NRS-F | Finance and insuranceHow risk enters, moves through and is transferred by the financial system. | 9 |
| NRS-P | Policy and governanceRisk in policy, regulation, public registers, institutions, foresight, rights and procurement. | 11 |
| NRS-D | Development, society and humanitarian actionRisk-informed development, inclusion, humanitarian response, livelihoods. | 10 |
| NRS-X | Cross-cutting domainsClimate, disasters, oceans, supply chains, cities, cyber, information integrity and continuity. | 12 |
| NRS-I | Risk intelligence, evidence and communicationIntelligence products and modalities, communication, model and data cards. | 7 |
| NRS-E | Programme and institutionalUniverse, Reports, Academy, campaigns, participation, national adoption. | 8 |
| NRS-S | System implementation profilesOne profile per functional system class of a risk information ecosystem. | 21 |
| NRS-H | Hazard family standards (NHS-1)One standard per family of the Nexus Hazard Standard NHS-1. | 120 |
| NRS-M | Risk method fabrics (Risk Master)One standard per fabric of the Risk Master, covering its capabilities, bindings, models. | 23 |
| NRS-U | Universe platform profilesOne profile per Universe platform (stewarded by the Global Risks Forum (GRF)), naming the standards, hazards. | 27 |
| NRS-K | Applied domain pack profilesThe standards profile and risk profile every Universe applied domain pack requires. | 50 |
| NRS-A | AI-native, ontology-native standards infrastructureStandards as code and as an ontology, the agent interface, zero-trust verification. | 9 |
An implementation-profile and conformance layer for established standards
Much of systemic-risk practice is already addressed by external standards. A Nexus Standard complements them: it adopts, profiles and crosswalks them for the systemic-risk nexus, assigns each artefact an identifier, expresses obligations as machine-readable clauses, evaluates conformance from evidence and directs the reader to the issuing body. Where no external standard addresses a nexus concern, a Nexus Standard specifies it (NS-0, section 2).
Crosswalk
Relations stated explicitly
An artefact records each external standard to which it relates, by identifier and URL, with the relation given in the register, under NS-14.
Clauses
Obligations expressed as data
Obligations are expressed as machine-readable clauses and policies under NS-10.
Verification
Conformance evaluated from evidence
Conformance is evaluated continuously from evidence and recorded as attestations with named evaluators, under NS-11.
Development
Open to comment from all stakeholders
Proposals, comments, decisions and versions are identified artefacts under the NS-13 process; participation requires no membership fee.
Open documents, open reference code and references to closed standards
Licences: CC BY 4.0 (standards text, registries, schemas, data); Apache-2.0 (reference code).
- Open standards and open-source specifications are adopted, profiled and crosswalked where their terms permit, with credit to and a link to the source.
- Closed or paywalled standards are referenced by name and link; a compatibility profile of such a standard is published only under an institutional arrangement with the issuing body.
Readiness pathways
Applying the standards makes artefacts readable as evidence by three institutional readiness pathways. Each institution decides under its own rules.
GCRI Canada pathway
GCRI Canada evidence pathway
What a project, dataset or model must carry to be admissible evidence in the GCRI Canada research and intelligence pipelines. Open the pathway.
Recognition pathway
Recognition pathway, The Global Risks Forum (GRF)
What an institution, programme or deployment must evidence for GRF recognition records; records, not reputation. Open the pathway.
Capital pathway
Capital pathway, The Global Risks Alliance (GRA)
What a project or portfolio must evidence for capital-readiness assessment; never investment advice or endorsement. Open the pathway.
Current implementations
Implementation status as recorded in the registry: in progress means the integration exists and is under test; planned means it is specified but not yet built.
| Implementation | Role | Standards and status |
|---|
06Programmes
Programmes and how they couple
Entry points by community, then how the twenty programmes connect, the programme cards and the six pillars.
Entry points by community of practice
Six entry points present, for each community of practice, the standards, programme areas, tools and readiness pathways most relevant to its work, as selected from the registry.
For
Policy
Frameworks, disclosure, governance and the standards that express obligations in machine-readable form.
ForSTEM communities
Data, models, Earth observation, provenance and the identifiers that make research citable.
ForFinance and insurance
Disclosure, prudential and climate-risk standards, and the records read by the capital readiness pathway.
ForHumanitarian and public sector
Early warning, disaster risk, humanitarian data and the alerting standards adopted in the Nexus Standards.
ForDevelopers
The UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) grammar, the record schema, the reference command-line tool, exports and the WordPress integration.
ForInstitutional communities
For the communities of the Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI Canada and GCRI US), The Global Risks Forum (GRF) and The Global Risks Alliance (GRA): what each institution’s pathway reads from the standards, and where the three sites already publish on each area.
07Participation
Take part, and how decisions are made
The development stages, open calls and contribution routes, how to use the standards, who decides, the latest changes, learning at Risk Academy, the institutions of the network and common questions.
How a standard is developed and adopted
A standard moves through 6 stages in the open under NS-13. Each stage has an entry condition and a body that decides. Adoption is a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council.
| Stage | To enter the stage | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| OPEN | Area named in the registry | Anyone may propose the area |
| COMMUNITY DRAFT | A chartered working group with chairs, scope, exclusions, deliverables, meeting cadence and decision rule | The working group, by consensus |
| PROPOSED | Working-group consensus recorded; the four horizontal reviews completed; crosswalk entries complete with source links. | The editors, after public last call |
| CANDIDATE | Two independent implementations pass the test suite; all comments dispositioned | The technical committee, on implementation evidence |
| ADOPTED | Adoption by the Global Standards Council recorded under GOVERNANCE.md, with the reference cited in the front matter | The Global Standards Council |
| SUPERSEDED or WITHDRAWN | A later edition or a withdrawal decision | The Global Standards Council |
Using the standards
The standards are free to use. They connect the international standards you already apply rather than replace them.
Implement
Adopt and implement
Repository structure, national adoption modes, citation and attribution. Adopt and implement.
Apply
Find what applies
Route a sector, hazard or system to the standards and clauses that apply, with reasons. Which standards apply.
Map
Map to existing standards
Record how each requirement relates to an external standard, by identifier and link. NS-14 conformance and crosswalk.
Identify
Identify and resolve
Give each artefact a UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) and resolve it to its record. A UNI identifies; it does not certify. The UNI resolver.
Start by communityPolicySTEM communitiesFinance and insuranceHumanitarian and public sectorDevelopersInstitutional communities.
Questions and answers
What is a Nexus Standard?
A shared, machine-readable set of rules for identifying, describing, verifying and citing the artefacts of risk work. The data is normative; the prose explains it.
What is the status of the standards?
Every standard is a proposal under legal review, and none is adopted. Adoption follows public last call and a decision of the Global Standards Council. The programme is in its founding phase, October 2026 to March 2027.
How do they relate to ISO, IEC or OGC standards?
They cite, profile, crosswalk or adopt external standards by identifier and link, direct the reader to the issuing body, and add requirements only where no external standard covers the need.
Under what licence are they published?
CC BY 4.0 for the standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for the reference code. Contributions are made under the Developer Certificate of Origin.
How can a country adopt a standard?
In one of four modes: adopt as is, adopt with a national application profile under NS-16, adapt, or reference only. The National Standards Council decides. National law and language prevail.
Do the standards certify?
No. A validator report is evidence for review, not a conformance claim. The words certified, accredited, approved or compliant are not used without a decision of a competent authority.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Nexus Standards
- EmailGateway GW-STDSend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsNexus StandardsSee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
The Global Risks Index
Every figure on this page is indexed: hazards, climate, conflict, the world.
The Index is the Consortium’s indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.
- 01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
- 02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
- 03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
- 04 · This pageNexus StandardsMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of hazards, climate, conflict.Public API
Sources205registered, each with its licence
Indicators451NIS-1, 106 composites, 20 domain indices
Hazards905NHS-1, crosswalked to UNDRR-ISC HIPs
Series54
global, sector, strategic, technology, thematicCountry profiles195one site per country
Series in this context hazards, climate, conflict
- GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Hazards · Climate · Conflict
- THDisaster Risk Intelligence (DRI)Signals, observations, event streams, geospatial layers and scenario packs turned into structured risk intelligence for preparedness and planning.NXS-GRX-AR-000111Hazards · Climate · Conflict
- GSGlobal CitiesUrban exposure, heat, flooding, informal settlement, service dependency and the economic weight of cities at risk.NXS-GRX-AR-000068Hazards · Infrastructure · Climate
- GSGlobal ClimateChronic and acute physical climate hazard, transition exposure, adaptation gaps and scenario pathways to 2030, 2050 and 2100.NXS-GRX-AR-000065Climate · Hazards · Finance
Country profiles the world
Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply.
Hazard domains NHS-1
- Atmosphere and weatherNXS-GRX-AR-000135
- Solid EarthNXS-GRX-AR-000138
- Systemic and compound eventsNXS-GRX-AR-000148
Geodata and API open
Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines.
/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0.
Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.
Standards
Take part in the standards.
Governments, regulators, standards bodies, industry, academia and communities are invited to comment on drafts and propose new work.
Status and use. The Nexus Standards are proposed standards developed through an open process under NS-13 and published for voluntary use; they do not constitute certification, accreditation or regulatory approval, and adoption remains a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council. A UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) identifies an artefact; it does not certify it. Names of standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards and are used only to identify the documents; no text of an external standard is reproduced here. Nexus Standards is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any standards body named here.
Licences: CC BY 4.0 for standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code. External standards are cited by name, number and link under their own licences. Third-party data, libraries and fonts keep their own licences: see Third-party notices.