While businesses are making progress in integrating sustainability into governance, stakeholder engagement and organisational structures, translating this into measurable business outcomes remains a challenge, according to BDO’s 2026 Sustainability Survey.
The survey, which draws on insights from 251 sustainability professionals and C-suite leaders across 41 countries, examines how businesses are progressing with their sustainability journeys, changes in decision-making, the role of AI in addressing sustainability challenges, and the barriers preventing them from implementing more sustainable practices.
Governance practices
Notably, governance and business practices were rated as the ‘top sustainability priority’ by all (100%) respondents, however three quarters (75%) of respondents said that they ‘require support’ in almost every area surveyed.
Just over two fifths (43%) of organisations surveyed said that they are facing challenges with measuring and tracking impact, making this the stand-out challenge in the survey.
‘The findings reveal growing maturity in governance, stakeholder engagement and organisational structures, but also highlight persistent gaps in leadership, strategy execution and impact measurement,’ BDO said.
Several regional insights also emerged from the survey – in Europe, for example, 53% of organisations said that they require support with developing or refining their sustainability strategy, while in Asia-Pacific, 84.6% cited the need for support with strategy and data/reporting.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, 91% of respondents said that they require support with their sustainability strategy, while all the respondents in the Middle East and Africa identified natural resource use as their top sustainability priority.
‘Operational integration’
“The survey indicates that more organisations are integrating sustainability into strategy and risk management, which may be driven by European regulation,” commented Marc Aboud, partner, Consulting & Sustainability, BDO Ireland.
“However, operational integration appears less mature, particularly in procurement, production, and investment decisions. Closing this gap will require organisations to align sustainability with resilience, supply chain and energy security, and adaptation to growing global volatility.” Read more here.
