Organizational Governance

90% of Experts Agree Sustainability Agenda Is Unsustainable

Regardless of their preferred paths forward, over 90% of global sustainability leaders agree current approaches must change to create the necessary impacts.

Published 4 months ago | About a 5 minute read

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New research from the ERM Sustainability Institute, GlobeScan and Volans finds consensus from sustainability experts around the world that current approaches are not working: 93 percent say the sustainability agenda needs revision, while more than half of those surveyed (56 percent) call for a radical overhaul.

Jointly developed and fielded by GlobeScan, ERM and Volans, Sustainability at a Crossroads surveyed 844 highly experienced sustainability experts across sectors and geographies between April and May 2025.

“Sometimes you don’t see impending seismic changes unless you know what you’re looking for. The survey results herald a coming psychological earthquake in markets and business,” said Volans founder John Elkington. “The research confirms our long-held view at Volans that corporate sustainability strategies are no longer fit for purpose. This result represents a clear mandate for radical new approaches.”

Government, business and UN efforts disappoint

According to the report, the organizations driving the sustainability agenda are failing to deliver. National governments receive the lowest performance ratings for their contributions to sustainable development, with only five percent of respondents assessing their contributions positively.

The private sector fares only slightly better, with just 14 percent of respondents rating its performance positively. Confidence in the ability of the United Nations (UN) to drive progress is also in decline, with only 29 percent rating its performance positively (down 12 percentage points since 2021).

NGOs, while retaining relatively positive performance scores (45 percent), have experienced a significant decline of 16 points since 2021.

Sustainability backlash

Experts also point to increased resistance to sustainability strategies. Seven in ten say there is significant backlash against the sustainability agenda, up 13 percentage points since 2024. Unsurprisingly, the backlash has been felt the most in North America (91 percent), where key issues including climate action and DEI are diametrically opposed to the priorities of the current US administration; that figure drops to just 38 percent in Asia-Pacific.

Pathways to progress — impact vs feasibility

To help fine-tune the sustainability agenda over the next five years, the study asked respondents to evaluate actions and interventions based on their potential impact and feasibility for implementation at scale:

When asked which corporate and business actions could lead to positive sustainability outcomes, technology innovation/R&D for sustainability solutions ranks highest (cited by 70 percent of experts), and more than half (51 percent) believe these actions are among the most feasible to implement.
- Integration of sustainability within companies and circular economy practices are believed to offer significant potential for positive impact (cited by 64 percent and 63 percent of experts, respectively) and considered likely to be implemented at scale.
Government and public policy actions rated as having the highest potential for significant positive sustainability outcomes include carbon pricing mechanisms (65 percent), which also rank highly for feasibility. In addition, 63 percent believe urban planning and sustainable cities initiatives have both high impact potential and are among solutions most likely to be implemented.
In the investor and capital market space, experts believe impact investing (73 percent), ESG integration into investment decisions (54 percent), and sustainable finance/green bonds (52 percent) have both high impact potential and are likely to be implemented.
- Integration of natural, social and human capital into financial accounting systems is also seen as a high-impact solution (62 percent) but ranks near the bottom of the list of solutions likely to be implemented.
When it comes to actions that civil society may lead on, education/capacity-building for sustainability leadership and advocacy for better government policies/regulations/enforcement are considered (59 percent and 58 percent, respectively) as having potential for significant positive impact and are also rated among the most feasible actions.
Meanwhile, using the judicial system to push for change ranks high on impact (56 percent) but low on feasibility (29 percent); conversely, NGO campaigns against poor sustainability performance top the list of feasible actions (percent) but rank among the lowest for positive impact potential (28 percent).

“The status quo is deemed untenable by the global sustainability community. The question, then, is — what next?” said GlobeScan CEO Chris Coulter. “This research gives us a starting roadmap toward 2030 by exploring 64 specific actions. We now have the opportunity to work together and focus our collective action on the most fruitful areas to accelerate progress.”

Incumbents vs insurgents

To help leaders tailor strategies, foster dialogue and build coalitions that drive progress, the research segments experts into four distinct mindsets within two camps: Incumbents and Insurgents.

Incumbents are comprised of:
- Traditionalists (42 percent), more prevalent in public and private sectors in Asia and Latin America, who are most aligned with the current sustainability agenda and incremental improvements
- and Institutionalists (9 percent) — concentrated in Africa, Asia and Latin America — who believe in reform through improved governance, transparency and accountability through regulatory tools including mandatory reporting and central bank oversight.
Insurgents are made up of:
- a reform-minded and optimistic group called Pathfinders (23 percent) — primarily from corporate and government roles — who favor market incentives, sustainable finance, ESG integration, urban planning and cross-sector collaboration.
- and Radicals (26 percent) — predominantly from NGOs and academia; concentrated in Europe, North America and Oceania — who champion bold, systemic interventions including wealth distribution, carbon pricing and judicial action.

Bold leadership required

Regardless of their preferred paths forward, over 90 percent of global sustainability leaders surveyed agree our current approaches need a refresh to deliver the changes needed.

“The sustainability agenda is facing a critical moment, but this should not be seen as an existential crisis,” said Mark Lee, Global Director of Thought Leadership at ERM. “Leaders can take the opportunity to pivot and make the bold strategic adjustments needed to deliver a just, low-carbon and nature-positive transition. For those businesses that rise to the challenge, it will mean creating new markets that strengthen societies and economies at the same time as increasing business resilience.”