North America region
The North America region of Nexus Consortiums covers deeply integrated electricity, energy, transport and manufacturing systems across Canada, the United States and Mexico, together with wildfire, heat, flood, hurricane and Arctic change. The Consortium Secretariat sits with GCRI in Toronto, within this region. The region is forming. Two hubs are planned as coordination roles; none operates, and none is an office. This page sets out the region from the perspective of The Global Risks Forum (GRF).
- 01InstitutionThe Global Risks Forum (GRF)
- 02Service levelR0: information and enquiries
- 03In briefThe short answer
- 04Shared systemsQuestions that cross borders in North America
- 05Frameworks in forceBilateral and trilateral arrangements on shared systems
- 06Dialogue questionsQuestions a regional dialogue could take up
- 07Planned hubsCoordination roles, not offices
GRF · Institution · service level R0
The short answer.
The North America region, seen from GRF, is the forming Nexus Consortiums region of integrated electricity, energy, transport and manufacturing systems across Canada, the United States and Mexico, with wildfire, heat, flood, hurricane and Arctic change. Cross-border wildfire and grid questions are a clear case for GRF's convening role.
Water security in North America.
Rivers, lakes and how far each division sits from mapped surface water, in North America.
Bilateral and trilateral arrangements on shared systems.
- The International Joint Commission under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 for Canada and the United States, and the International Boundary and Water Commission for the United States and Mexico.
- The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, whose reliability standards apply across the interconnected grid.
- Mutual aid and wildfire resource sharing arrangements across the borders.
- The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Columbia River Treaty, the latter under modernisation talks.
Questions a regional dialogue could take up.
| Question | Institutions involved |
|---|---|
| How are wildfire firefighting resources shared when fire seasons overlap across the continent? | Federal, state, provincial and tribal fire agencies |
| How do grid operators coordinate during extreme cold or heat events that span interconnections? | Reliability coordinators, regulators |
| How are shared rivers governed when drought cuts deliveries under a treaty? | Boundary commissions, water agencies, irrigation districts, tribal nations |
Coordination roles, not offices.
The Consortium Secretariat sits with GCRI in Toronto, Ontario. GCRI US is a separate organization with its own legal identity. A Canada Nexus Consortium programme page is published by The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) and is marked as forming; its earlier capability and finance statements are under publisher review against current records before reuse. Mexico also takes part in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
| Planned hub | Programme focus | State |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | National adaptation, sovereign compute, Indigenous and Arctic interfaces, infrastructure and North American coordination | Planned |
| United States | Federal, state, Tribal and territorial interfaces; power, digital infrastructure, hazard resilience and supply chains | Planned |
A planned hub is a proposed coordination role for shared-system work across a group of countries. It is not an operating site, an office or an exclusive territory, and countries listed in a hub's scope do not, by that fact, have constituted programmes.
Leadership and dialogue in the region.
Cross-border wildfire and grid questions are a clear case for GRF's convening role in the region: federal, state, provincial, Tribal and municipal authorities and operators share the same smoke, interties and supply chains.
Shared-system dialogues
Documented dialogues among the authorities, operators and communities who share a system, with agreements and dissent recorded.
Regional roles in formation
Regional leadership roles are in formation; their scope is published only once adopted. See Regional leadership.
Regional missions
Regional missions can be proposed to Nexus Universe and admitted at gate G1 against published criteria.
What is in place, and what is not.
- Programme state: forming. No regional programme decision, host agreement or hub is described as operating.
- National structures keep agenda authority and may decline participation or data sharing.
- No regional body binds a country, and withdrawal never erases other parties' lawful work.
- GRF convenes and records. It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify.
Where to go next.
The regional desk, run by the Consortium Secretariat, is northamerica@therisk.global. The acknowledgement gives a reference and names the next step. The technical view of the region is on GCRI's North America region page, and its financial-system questions on GRA's North America region page. Other regions on this site include Africa and Asia and the Pacific, all listed on Regional cooperation.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Interconnection | Transmission links between power systems or countries that let them share reserves and trade power, and also share disturbances. |
| Multi-level governance | Shared decision-making across local, regional, national and international levels of government. |
| Fire regime | The typical pattern of fire frequency, intensity, size and season in an area. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
Does the Secretariat's seat in Toronto make Canada the regional host?
Is the Canada Nexus Consortium operating?
How does my institution take part in North America?
Are there results for this region yet?
Around GRF.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.