Executives say sustainability investments are up: Deloitte research

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Climate change remains one of the top three issues for global C-suite level business leaders (CxOs), surpassing political uncertainty, competition for talent, and the changing regulatory environment, among others, a report by Deloitte showed.

According to “2024 CxO Sustainability Report: Signs of a shift in business climate action,” 85 percent of the business leaders said they have increased investments in sustainability in the past year, and half have started to implement technology solutions to help achieve climate goals.

Now in its third year, the report, which surveys over 2,100 C-suite level business leaders from 27 countries, revealed that they are simultaneously optimistic and concerned about climate change. While investments, action and innovation are each trending up, more work needs to be done to help drive tangible progress.

“It’s encouraging to see the notable increased investment in sustainability efforts in this year’s data along with the focus on using technology as a catalyst to advance climate solutions,” Deloitte Global CEO Joe Ucuzoglu said.

“We are seeing more organizations looking to transform their core business models to address climate change, leverage climate action to drive innovation and growth, create new value for their stakeholders and differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

The report showed that 70 percent of executives expect climate change to have a high or very high impact on their company’s strategies and operations over the next three years.

Nearly half of CxOs, or 45 percent, say they are transforming their business model to help address climate change and sustainability in a way that is central to their organization’s strategy.

It also showed that half of CxOs have already begun implementing technology solutions to help achieve climate or environmental goals, with another 42 percent expecting to undertake this work in the next two years.

“Executives are beginning to see more tangible benefits from taking climate action for their organizations — pointing to sustainability as a driver of new products, business models and value creation overall,” said Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte Global Sustainability Business leader.

“The companies in the moderate middle group in our analysis are primed to take advantage of the broader market momentum by building on their existing experience to take additional deeper, transformational actions — such as reconfiguring operations and infrastructure to be more climate resilient or requiring suppliers to meet specific sustainability criteria.”

She added, “Ultimately, this increased action will help accelerate progress toward our collective global climate goals.”