ESG

As climate shocks intensify and biodiversity loss accelerates, the era of treating sustainability as a long-term aspiration rather than an immediate business imperative is quickly closing. A new white paper from the Council on Sustainability Transformation, Aligning Climate, Nature, and Markets, argues that companies now face a pivotal moment where fragmented climate strategies and short-term market thinking are no longer sufficient to protect value or support growth.

Sustainability is no longer being treated as a reputational add-on or a long-term aspiration. According to HSBC’s Sustainability Pulse Survey 2025, it is increasingly being positioned at the centre of business growth, competitive strategy, and investor decision-making.

The International Sustainability Standards Board released targeted amendments to its IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures standard, responding to practical challenges companies have encountered as they begin putting the new climate rules into practice.

Investment firms are making progress weaving sustainability into investment decision-making, but many still aren’t connecting the dots between what clients want and what they actually end up holding. That’s the latest from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), which says firms need to improve how they align investor sustainability preferences with the true characteristics of investment products.

Malaysia’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability Reporting (ACSR) has mapped out how it plans to address non-compliance with the country’s emerging sustainability disclosure rules, signaling a balanced approach that supports corporate readiness while keeping formal enforcement tools within reach.

Brussels has taken a noticeable step back from some of its most far-reaching sustainability ambitions. After a marathon round of negotiations, EU lawmakers reached a provisional deal to trim down the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a course correction shaped by delays, industry pressure, and a shifting political mood.

Climate has dominated ESG discourse for years. Carbon pathways, transition plans, emissions reporting have all become standard boardroom topics. Yet the most fundamental risk is one that companies often only notice once it’s too late, which is the natural systems that businesses depends on every single day.