Some 85% of businesses in the supply chain sector say that meeting sustainability standards is becoming more difficult, a new report by Inspectorio has found.
According to Inspectorio’s State of Supply Chain Report 2025, which also examines the challenges of tariff unpredictability and changing consumer expectations, global supply chains have entered a phase of ‘accelerated disruption’, with escalating compliance demands adding to the sense of urgency.
Sustainability regulations
Some 75% of firms said that they have increased their compliance budgets to handle an increasingly complex patchwork of global sustainability regulations.
While three quarters (75%) also recognise sustainability as a key purchase driver, less than 10% think that consumers are willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly options, the study also found.
Elsewhere, more than 60% of supplier respondents said that retailers ‘partially’ or ‘fully’ push compliance and environmental upgrade expenses back onto them – for mid-tier suppliers, ‘this baseline expectation for sustainability forces them to balance remaining cost-competitive or risk losing high-volume contracts’, Inspectorio said.
Other findings from the report include the challenge of digital transformation, with fewer than 10% of companies having fully automated their supply chain functions, and close to half (45%) saying that they are still below the 25% digitisation mark.
Some 14% of companies report having no formal digitalisation roadmap in place at all, with cited barriers to digital adoption including cultural resistance and unclear return-on-investment (ROI) metrics.
Agility and resilience
“To manage accelerating regulations on forced labor, heightened sustainability mandates, and geopolitical fluctuations, brands and suppliers must move quickly to improve their supply chain agility and resilience,” commented Chirag Patel, CEO, Inspectorio.
“This year’s report reveals that a multifaceted approach – one that unifies compliance and risk management with strategic sourcing, digital innovations, and measurable ESG commitments – is critical to success both now and in the future.” Read more here.
