Sustainability’s New Operating System
If you only follow the headlines, you’d think sustainability is fading. But the data says something more precise: the sustainability agenda isn’t shrinking - it’s . It’s becoming less about signals and more about systems.
In the Sustainability Leaders 2025 survey (391 sustainability experts across 57 countries), climate change remains the dominant global concern, rated urgent by 94% of experts.
At the same time, perceived urgency has declined across 9 of the 18 issues tracked — including access to energy, supply chain labour conditions, and diversity/discrimination.
That combination matters. It suggests experts are signalling a tighter concentration on what’s linked to delivery: policy, energy transition, climate risk, and nature solutions.
And the clearest signal is what they say is actually moving progress. Over the past 12 months, the most significant positive driver is legislation (33%), followed by renewables / low-carbon development (18%) and climate / nature solutions (13%).
Leadership is being redefined around integration and proof. When experts explain why they recognise corporate sustainability leaders, the top reasons are making sustainability a core business driver (26%) and showing evidence of impacts and actions (21%).
In other words: sustainability is becoming an operating system — shaping capital allocation, procurement, product decisions, risk management, and regulatory readiness.
The advantage won’t go to the companies with the best slogans.
It will go to the ones who embed sustainability into how the business runs — and can demonstrate measurable outcomes.
Click to read more: https://www.erm.com/insights/sustainability-leaders-2025-a-survey-developed-by-erm-and-globescan/