What’s Shaping Sustainability? Key Takeaways From The 2025 Global Corporate Survey

The past year has been turbulent for many sustainability leaders. Continuous shifts in regulations and global sustainability policy – coupled with economic and trade uncertainty – have prompted organizations to re-evaluate their sustainability priorities, budgets and technology strategies. To better understand these trends, Verdantix surveyed 400 senior sustainability leaders across more than 30 countries and 15 distinct industries, presenting the findings in the 2025 global corporate survey. Our research finds that:

• Sustainability budgets are growing, but selectively.
  ESG and sustainability budgets continue to grow, although not as rapidly as they did in 2024 when firms were preparing for more extensive and imminent requirements coming out of the EU. Organizations are currently prioritizing investments that deliver clear impact or meet compliance needs, including data management for sustainability reporting, supporting the energy transition, and integrating ESG factors into investment decisions. This suggests firms are moving from compliance readiness toward operational efficiency and measurable impact. In 2025, sustainability leaders are anticipating increased spend on consultancy services and digital tools, although the increase is more modest than expectations in 2024.

• Collaboration remains one of the biggest challenges for sustainability leaders. Our survey shows that nearly two-thirds of firms aspire to sustainability leadership, though many struggle to achieve this. True leadership requires a clear long-term strategy, strong internal collaboration, and the ability to measure and communicate impact. Respondents to our survey indicate that collaboration is a top barrier to meeting their sustainability ambition. This includes internal collaboration – coordinating across departments such as operations, finance and procurement, which often have different priorities and data systems – and external collaboration – engaging suppliers, customers and regulators, each at different stages of their sustainability journeys.
• Most firms are advancing in their tech journeys.
  Technology adoption continues to grow amongst sustainability leaders, with organizations moving away from spreadsheets toward centralized, integrated software platforms that streamline data management, performance tracking and reporting. More firms are adopting commercial solutions, especially for supply chain sustainability and sustainability data management, where handling large volumes of data is critical. Sustainability leaders are increasingly leveraging AI for sustainability-related purposes, especially for sustainability report content preparation and performance analysis. Decision-makers have also expressed interest in AI for more advanced use cases, such as materiality assessments, IRO identification, and scenario analysis.
  

For deeper insights into corporate sustainability priorities, and key challenges and trends in carbon management software preferences and budgets, read the full report:  Verdantix Global Corporate Survey 2025: ESG & Sustainability Budgets, Priorities And Tech Preferences.