Sustainability Is Advancing, Just Not Where You’re Looking: Evidence From Turkey And India

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Corporate Sustainability Leaders

16 Apr, 2026

Much of the recent sustainability discourse has focused on policy rollbacks and regulatory uncertainty in the EU and US. This emphasis, while justified, risks obscuring a parallel trend: several middle-income countries are advancing decarbonization and energy transition efforts despite tighter fiscal and structural constraints.

A comparison between higher- and middle-income economies suggests a divergence in approach. In many developed markets, decarbonization is framed through cost burdens and regulatory complexity. By contrast, some developing economies are embedding sustainability into industrial growth and energy security strategies. This distinction matters because it shapes how quickly sustainability expectations materialize in business environments.

Turkey’s energy transition illustrates this:

Since 2022, the country has approved over 33GW of battery storage capacity – ahead of any individual EU member state. Battery storage reduces intermittency in renewable generation, lowering reliance on fossil fuel back-up.
Long-term emissions data reinforce the dual nature of Turkey’s trajectory. Alongside increasing emissions due to urbanization and industrialization between 1990 and 2020, Turkey has also built mitigation capacity through investment in renewables, agriculture and forestry.

India’s industrial policy presents a different but equally relevant case:

Under its proposed National Steel Policy, the country aims to reduce emissions intensity in steel production by approximately 25%, while more than doubling output. This reflects a focus on emissions efficiency within a growing industrial base. External pressures such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) are relevant, but not solely determinative.
Annual emissions growth slowed to 0.7% in 2025, compared with 4-11% in the preceding four years, marking the nation’s slowest increase in over two decades – as well as the sharpest emissions drop among major economies in 2025. This is a sign of early progress in moderating emissions growth without constraining economic expansion.
India’s target to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 47% by 2035 (from a 2005 baseline) reinforces policy direction and implies continued regulatory development. This trajectory is increasingly reflected at the corporate level: in Q2 2025, 79% of Indian firms reported plans to increase investment in sustainability over the next 12 months – well above the global average of 56.5%.

Taken together, these cases suggest a broader structural shift. Middle-income economies are, in some sectors, advancing more pragmatically by embedding decarbonization within growth and competitiveness strategies.

This has direct implications for businesses:

As supply chains deepen and investment flows increasingly target middle-income markets, sustainability performance is becoming more material to corporate outcomes. Both domestic policy momentum and external trade integration – such as the proposed EU-India agreement – are converging to link market access more closely to environmental standards.
The policy landscape remains fragmented across markets, creating complexity for businesses. However, this variation also creates opportunities for differentiated strategies, particularly for firms that can align operational efficiency with evolving sustainability expectations.

Ultimately, the key issue is less whether sustainability is inherently economically viable and more about how policy and market incentives are structured and applied to shape that viability in practice.

If you are interested in reading more about sustainability agendas and regulations across the world, here are a couple of reports to get you started:

To learn more about where sustainability regulations are picking up steam, read Sustainability Regulatory Movement Is Picking Up: The When And Where Of It All.

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