Deloitte study: despite uncertainty and regulatory changes, sustainability continued to attract investments in 2025, especially technology-related, and remains a priority in 2026 for businesses globally
Despite uncertainty and dynamic regulatory changes, sustainability continued to attract investments in 2025, especially technology-related, and remains a priority for 45% of business leaders globally in 2026, next to technology adoption and artificial intelligence (44%), according to Deloitte 2025 C-suite Sustainability Global Report. Respondents indicate that they feel less pressure to act on sustainability across nearly every major stakeholder group. That includes regulators, which topped the list in 2022, with 77%, and decreased to 58% in 2025, board members (from 75% in 2022 to 60% in 2025), customers (from 75% to 57%), civil society and NGOs (from 72% to 57%), shareholders (from 71% to 58%), and employees (from 65% to 54%). Also, leaders report climate change as less disruptive to their business strategy and operations in the near term than they have in past years.
Nevertheless, participants to the study say that market conditions like economic uncertainty or competing priorities such as the need to invest more heavily in technology have not caused companies to halt sustainability investments. No less than 83% of the executives surveyed stated that their organizations have increased investments in sustainability technologies, and a large majority (79%) are either transforming their business model or embedding sustainability considerations throughout the organization. Also, more than 80% of companies already use AI, and 16% of them plan to use AI next year to find efficiencies and reduce emissions (65%), monitor data and metrics for reporting (58%), mitigate risks (53%) and develop new, sustainable products and services (52%).
Similarly to 2024, implementing technology solutions to help achieve ESG goals was one of the most-frequently cited (46%) sustainable actions taken by companies, followed by using more sustainable materials (45%), tracking and analyzing environmental metrics (44%), and developing sustainability talent (44%). Other actions include developing new sustainable products or services (44%), purchasing renewable energy (42%) and tying senior leaders’ compensation to sustainability performance (36%).
“Although regulatory pressure has eased, companies still feel the need to act on sustainability, as it remains relevant for customers, investors, employees and it represents a competitive advantage on the market. This is where the study proves its usefulness, as it provides a practical roadmap around a set of sustainability actions, which offers companies a potential path to embed sustainability considerations into strategy, operations, and innovation and showcases the wide variety of measurable benefits,” said Alexandru Reff, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Romania and Moldova.
When assessing the impact of sustainability efforts, revenue generation (66%) was the most frequently cited business benefit across a range of sustainability actions, followed by compliance-related outcomes (61%), brand and reputation (60%), risk and resiliency (55%) and cost reduction (55%). Technology solutions have emerged as a key enabler of corporate sustainability efforts for process or operational efficiency (55%), internal monitoring of sustainability data and performance (54%), monitoring supply chain environmental performance (53%), developing new sustainable products or services (52%), and external reporting of sustainability data (e.g., ESG reports and disclosures, 49%).
“The Deloitte study shows that business leaders worldwide continue to place climate change and sustainability among their strategic priorities. With the recent regulatory easing across Europe, including in Romania, executives now have more room to channel resources and vision into turning sustainability from a compliance exercise into a true transformation tool for medium and long-term value creation. Companies are prioritizing in-depth analysis of their processes and operations, supply-chain reviews, and risk mapping as critical steps for unlocking financial efficiencies and enhancing resilience, and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, play a key role in enabling what is an increasingly data-driven corporate sustainability agenda. In fact, most leaders see investing in new technologies as a complement, not a competitor, to sustainability investments, and 70% of them said the need for AI and other technology investments had prompted them to also increase sustainability action,” stated Ovidiu Popescu, Partner, Deloitte Romania, Leader of the energy and sustainability practices.
In terms of the obstacles encountered in their sustainability efforts, relatively few executives mentioned costs (11%) or lack of policy support (13%), instead pointing to challenges in measuring environmental impact (22%) and on the focus on near-term business demands (21%).
In its fourth year, Deloitte 2025 C-suite Sustainability Global Report surveyed more than 2,100 top executives from 27 countries on all continents, on the current state of corporate sustainability transformation and how companies are evolving their approach to climate change.
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Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through 3,300 professionals.
