New Deloitte Report Finds Sustainability Holding Strong as AI Accelerates Progress

Key Takeaways

• Sustainability Stays a Priority: Deloitte Global’s 2025 survey shows sustainability remains a top-three C-suite priority, alongside technology adoption and AI.
• Investment Continues to Grow: 83% of executives increased sustainability spending in the past year, with most reporting revenue gains from those actions.
• AI and Technology Lead Progress: 81% of respondents are already using AI to support sustainability, and implementing technology solutions remains the most common action taken.
• Execution Slows Slightly: Fewer companies tied executive pay to sustainability, applied supplier criteria, used sustainable materials, or increased energy efficiency compared to last year.
• Stakeholder Pressure Softens: Shareholder, board, government, customer, and employee pressure for sustainability action has waned since 2022, though most stakeholders still push for increased efforts.

Deep Dive

Deloitte Global’s 2025 C-suite Sustainability Report suggests that corporate sustainability is sharing the front row with technology adoption and artificial intelligence, not just holding steady in a crowded field of business priorities. Now in its fourth year, Deloitte’s survey of more than 2,100 executives across 27 countries paints a picture of organizations still pushing toward long-term sustainability goals even as the operating environment shifts under their feet.

Executives no longer frame sustainability as a feel-good initiative or a future aspiration. The majority see it as a driver of business value, with revenue generation ranking as the most frequently reported benefit of sustainability actions. Compliance improvements, brand and reputation gains, and risk reduction round out the list.

Investment is following conviction. Eighty-three percent of leaders say they increased sustainability spending over the past year, with most seeing moderate bumps and 14% reporting increases of more than 20%. Importantly, very few respondents (10% or fewer) reported negative impacts from their sustainability initiatives on revenue, cost, resiliency, brand, or compliance.

For many companies, sustainability is increasingly tied to strategy, rather than side projects. As Deloitte Global Sustainability leader Jennifer Steinmann emphasized, organizations now have an opportunity to assess whether their sustainability plans are fully aligned with core performance drivers and material risks. That alignment, she noted, will define whether new investments deliver lasting value.

Technology and AI Step Into Central Roles

Once again, implementing technology solutions ranked as the most common action companies took to advance their sustainability goals, and it was ranked the top priority across all initiatives. Artificial intelligence is becoming equally foundational. Eighty-one percent of executives say they already use AI to support sustainability efforts, from emissions tracking to operational efficiency and risk modeling. The report suggests that AI is accelerating sustainability, not just enabling it.

Despite steady investment, Deloitte’s multi-year survey shows a subtle cooling in how aggressively companies are taking sustainability actions compared to last year. The percentage of respondents reporting they:

• Tie executive compensation to sustainability performance fell from 43% to 36%
• Require suppliers or partners to meet sustainability criteria dropped from 47% to 38%
• Purchase renewable energy to cut emissions declined from 49% to 42%
• Use sustainable materials decreased from 51% to 45%
• Increase energy efficiency slipped from 49% to 45%
• Implement technology solutions dipped from 50% to 46%

Executives say cost and regulation aren’t the main obstacles this year. Instead, many cite the underlying challenge of accurately measuring environmental impacts, which continues to complicate decision-making and reporting efforts.

Stakeholder Pressure Is No Longer One-Directional

Compared with 2022, executives report less pressure from almost every major stakeholder group. That includes shareholders (71% to 58%), boards (75% to 60%), governments (77% to 58%), civil society (72% to 57%), customers (75% to 57%), and employees (65% to 54%).

While most stakeholders still push for more sustainability action, the decrease—and the emergence of a small minority pushing for less—may be influencing the cooling trend in some specific actions.

Across four years of data, Deloitte notes a consistent pattern in the actions taken by companies that are embedding sustainability deeply and effectively. The emerging roadmap includes:

• Implementing technology
• Using more sustainable materials
• Developing sustainable products and services
• Increasing operational efficiency
• Tracking and disclosing sustainability metrics

Despite the year-to-year fluctuations, 79% of executives say they’re either transforming their business model or embedding sustainability throughout their organization.

As 2025 unfolds, sustainability is maturing, not fading. And for many leaders, the next leap forward will come from how well technology and AI can be woven into the fabric of corporate sustainability, risk, and long-term resilience.

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