Board rooms are viewing green actions as revenue drivers. Image credit: Bain & Company
Lead executives are leaning on ESG despite widespread backlash, according to the latest findings from global consulting firm Bain & Company.
In “The Visionary CEO’s Guide to Sustainability 2025” report, the agency details the reasons and trends behind the environmental actions that C-suite figureheads have taken over the past year. Of note, while public mentions of green policies have cratered in the past few years, chief executives view their companies’ respective measures as a business positive rather than just a means of regulatory compliance.
“After the initial years of bold ambitions and target setting, CEOs took a reality check on their sustainability agenda last year,” said Jean-Charles van den Branden, global Sustainability practice lead at Bain & Company, in a statement.
“Today, CEOs might speak less about sustainability, but what they lack in words, they make up in action, a phenomenon we call the ‘do-say’ gap,” Mr. van den Branden said. “We have identified profitable decarbonization levers ready for companies to power their net-zero journey.
“To succeed, companies need to accelerate what already works, anticipate disruptions and build robustness.”
The third edition report is based upon AI-powered analysis of more than 35,000 sustainability-related statements made by 150 leading global companies’ CEOs in 2018, 2022 and 2024. The publication also pulls from various CEO surveys over the past seven years, aggregating their results; Bain & Company also completed individual interviews with C-suite members around the world.
Making a difference
According to the findings, public discussion of sustainable company policies is not due to a lack of actions, as green initiatives have become ingrained in day-to-day decision-making.
Bain & Company’s proprietary decarbonization lever library projects that, in the short term, a quarter of global CO2 emissions could be cut profitably, with an additional 32 percent of emissions being able to be reduced with no adverse business effects in the medium term. The firm attributes this to varied, high-return-on-investment pathways, such as improved energy efficiency, circular design and supply chain localization.
These impacts are consistent across B2B and B2C businesses. Image credit: Bain & Company
More than half of the B2B leaders surveyed state that they buy more from their sustainable suppliers, with just under 70 percent planning to increase their order volume by 2028; their B2C counterparts are said to be mirroring this investment.
Of the 400 C-suite members interviewed across the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, India, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, nearly 80 percent state that they see “high” or “very high” opportunity for artificial intelligence to contribute to their companies’ respective sustainability agendas. More than half of these executives’ AI-driven plans have not left the initial stages of implementation.
Experts have warned of the potential environmental dangers AI could pose, as the firm projects that data centers housing the tool could produce up to 810 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. This figure is equal to 2 percent of global emissions and 17 percent of industrial emissions.
“The message from this year’s report is clear – sustainability and business ambitions can grow in tandem,” said Mr. van den Branden, in a statement.
“And the leaders are those who can cut through the noise, stay focused on their agenda and act consistently.”
Luxury’s struggle
In the prestige sector, green progress has been slow, with some areas stalling altogether.
Earlier this summer, Bain & Company reported that high-end packaging was in the middle of a period of reinvention, becoming more sustainable in the periphery over time while product took its rightful place at center stage (see story).
Many luxury brands are investing in more environmentally beneficial supply chains. Image credit: Bain & Company
More recent reporting from global consulting management firm Kearney has shown that progress has come to a halt in the fashion space, with its Circular Fashion Index showing that 80 percent of prestige labels have failed to implement effective green strategies at scale across various aspects of production and operations (see story).
Despite consistent, strong consumer demand for sustainable practices and global macroeconomic uncertainty hampering the industry, it is said to be turning a corner, with more consumers beginning to feel optimism for the market as of mid-July (see story).
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