A world in balance: Heightened sustainability awareness yet lagging actions

Having now crossed six of the nine planetary boundaries and edging towards the remaining three, addressing humanity’s destabilising impact on the Earth’s climate and ecosystems is an urgent global priority.

In this Capgemini Research Institute report, A World in Balance 2023: Heightened sustainability awareness yet lagging actions, we provide comprehensive insights into important sustainability trends, both environmental and social, for the global corporate sector. This report follows last year’s inaugural edition of the A World in Balance research series, adding perspective on shifts in sustainability trends over the past year.

Read an executive summary below.

Having interviewed over 2,000 senior executives from more than 700 leading organisations across 13 countries, we found that more executives today see a clear business case for sustainability. More also say that the benefits of sustainability outweigh the costs and view sustainability more positively than as simply a financial obligation.

However, this improved awareness has not translated into increased investment in sustainability in 2023, and organisations continue to fall short in terms of reporting on sustainability initiatives, especially on Scope 3. Similarly, action around sustainable product design has been less than impressive since last year’s research.

While the bottom line on sustainability has been lacking, there have been pockets of progress that show positive changes. For example, 57% of executives shared that their organisation is in the process of redesigning its business/operating model to be more sustainable – up from 37% in 2022. With such significant improvements in sentiment, we can expect investment and action to follow suit in the future. Additionally, an important development has consisted of increased focus on the social dimension of sustainability, with companies evaluating their suppliers based on whether they pay a living wage, for example.

To convert positive perception into sustainability action, organisations will have to act decisively and at pace. In this report, in addition to our insights on the key trends around sustainability, covering the business case, improved perception, social sustainability, and generative AI, we share six recommendations for sustainability leaders to accelerate their organisations’ environmental and social initiatives.

Download the report to learn more about how organisations can become more sustainable –to keep our environment and world in balance.