Sixty percent of APAC executives agree that geopolitics is driving a slowdown in their organisation's sustainability investments/projects, according to a global report by The Capgemini Research Institute.
The report titled “A world in balance 2024: Accelerating sustainability amidst geopolitical challenges”, highlights marked improvements in circularity, sustainable design, measurement, water stewardship, biodiversity, and sustainability skilling, despite shortfalls in tackling Scope 3 emissions and consumer skepticism. (Scope 3 emissions are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organisation, but that the organisation indirectly affects in its value chain.)
Capgemini surveyed 2,152 executives employed at 727 organisations, each with more than $1bn in annual revenue, across 13 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific and in 12 industries and sectors. Countries covered included: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US. Industries and sectors covered included: aerospace and defence, agriculture and forestry, automotive, consumer products, energy, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, industrial manufacturing, retail, telecom, utilities, and the public sector/government. The global survey took place in June and July 2024.
Apart from geopolitical challenges being seen as an increasing consideration in sustainability investments, the highlights of developments in APAC include:
-
72% of APAC organisations measure the energy consumption of their industrial processes, and 68% share sustainability-related data across the entire organisation.
-
73% of executives in APAC say their organisation focuses on water stewardship today.
-
57% of APAC organisations publicly report the outcomes of their social sustainability initiatives and only slightly more than half (52%) make their products affordable to local communities.
-
65% of executives in APAC agree that upskilling/reskilling on hard sustainability skills is a top priority for the organisation, higher than the global average of 60%.
-
73% of APAC executives agree that their organisations train employees on the importance of sustaining the environment, and 72% train them to adopt sustainable practices in-office.
-
70% of APAC organisations agree that sustainability regulation is necessary to achieve global climate goals investments/projects. Another 61% believe that without regulation, their organisation would not have launched many environmental sustainability initiatives
-
66% of APAC executives agree that benefits from generative AI outweigh the negative impacts it has on the environment. Another 55% agree that the impact of generative AI on sustainability is a topic of discussion in their boardroom.
-
61% of APAC executives feel concerned that their organisation’s efforts towards sustainability might appear insincere to the public.
-
78% of consumers in APAC believe corporations must play a larger role in reducing GHG emissions.
Globally, regulation and technology are proving to be a vital part of the progress in sustainability, with two-thirds of executives agreeing that their organisation will never be able to achieve its sustainability goals without ClimateTech.