Per this article from the Harvard Law School Forum, here, in descending order, are ten corporate sustainability priorities for 2025.
- AI: AI offers sustainability gains but raises potential environmental, social & governance (ESG) risks.
- Sustainability storytelling: Beyond core disclosure, effective storytelling can engage diverse audiences and advance goals.
- Business integration: The embedding of ESG into core functions is uneven but increasingly urgent.
- Biodiversity: Nature risks are rising; disclosures are growing but measurement remains complex.
- Water stewardship: Water stress is accelerating local risk strategies and reporting.
- Supply chain transparency: Due diligence laws and reputational risk are driving deeper supplier scrutiny.
- Climate strategy: Companies are deepening climate disclosure and aligning capital with risk, despite the evolving policy environment.
- Return on investment (ROI): Internal expectations are rising to show the business case for sustainability investments.
- ESG reporting regulations: Mandatory disclosure rules are expanding but increasingly fragmented across jurisdictions.
- Policy shifts: US policy shifts are reshaping ESG language, legal review, and strategy.
What does this mean for you?
- Don’t think AI is free. It has serious environmental costs. Decide when you use it with that in mind.
- People respond to stories. If you become certified sustainable, talk about it. You will see the benefit.
- Our environmental problems will not go away just because politicians are afraid of them.
- If you are part of a supply chain, or wish to be, seriously consider becoming certified sustainable.
- Your sustainability program should provide a positive ROI. If not, you have the wrong program.