Despite Headwinds, Global Corporate Sustainability Ambitions Largely Hold Steady, ISS-Corporate Survey Finds
NEW YORK (November 4, 2025) – ISS-Corporate, a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies globally, today announced the detailed findings of a global survey of corporate issuers on priorities in corporate sustainability practices. The survey, conducted between August 25 and September 19, 2025, sought to capture corporate perspectives on the development of sustainability strategies, reporting practices, and key focus areas in response to market and regulatory shifts over the past year, and how these priorities may evolve in the years ahead. A total of 220 corporate issuers participated globally, spread between the Americas (93), Asia Pacific (65) and EMEA (62).
The analysis found that global momentum in sustainability strategies is largely holding steady among issuers, with a majority of survey respondents in all three regions indicating that their organizations are either maintaining or expanding their sustainability efforts in response to political, market and regulatory developments of the past year. Regulation emerged as the most prominent driver of corporate sustainability practices, with 95 percent of respondents rating it as having “high” or “very high” importance for their organization.
However, the survey also found regional differences in approaches to sustainability strategies, disclosures, and thematic areas of focus. Respondents in EMEA and Asia Pacific were more likely to report expansion or maintenance of their sustainability strategies than in the Americas, where 26 percent of respondents indicated a pullback in their sustainability programs. Nonetheless, nearly three quarters of respondents in the Americas reported either expanding or maintaining their strategies, underscoring continued momentum in the region, despite perceptions of widespread retreat.
In sustainability disclosures, too, nearly 70 percent of respondents based in EMEA and Asia Pacific reported that they anticipated their disclosures to increase in terms of volume, detail, and use of quantitative metrics, reflecting an evolving regulatory landscape in those regions that is driving momentum toward standardized disclosures. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of respondents based in the Americas reported anticipated disclosure growth, and about half expect no change, reflecting a more cautious stance given perceived uncertainty in the regulatory landscape in the U.S., where most of these respondents (81 out of 93) were based. Approximately 14 to 22 percent of respondents based in the Americas reported anticipating a decrease in disclosure activity. When asked about thematic priority areas, respondents across all three regions overwhelmingly cited climate, with other priorities differing by region.
Beyond overall strategy and disclosures, respondents also reported investing in the operational backbone of their sustainability programs. When asked about planned investments in third-party tools over the next 12 to 24 months, respondents across all regions highlighted tools that can support with sustainability data collection– particularly for greenhouse gas accounting and sustainability metrics – as their top priority, signaling a continued push toward more robust and auditable sustainability systems.
Survey responses show that sustainability is not retreating – it’s recalibrating. Even in regions facing the strongest headwinds, most companies are holding steady or moving forward,” said Reinhilde Weidacher, Head of Corporate Sustainability Services at ISS-Corporate. “At the same time, local developments – particularly regulatory shifts and evolving political dynamics – are increasingly shaping corporate strategies, making these a key area of focus going forward.
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