Consumers and companies will take over from government regulation as the main drivers of sustainability initiatives in 2026, according to the CSO Futures community of sustainability leaders.
As the US pushes back on sustainability reporting regulations and they face significant watering down across Europe, continued consumer demand plus the need for industry to become more resilient will become the main driving force motivating companies to be more sustainable.
Some senior sustainability leaders in the CSO Futures community even argue that current geopolitical trends will accelerate certain green initiatives as heightened uncertainty increases the need for companies to improve supply chain resilience.
Another major theme among the predictions is growing use of data and technology - including artificial intelligence (AI) - to reduce the reporting workload, identify opportunities for sustainability improvements and make better information...
