CISL lays out six priorities for corporate sustainability amid current headwinds

The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has suggested six strategic priorities for businesses to rebuild momentum for sustainability amid the current political headwinds.

The start of 2025 hasn’t brought the most hopeful news for sustainability professionals: deregulation efforts in the EU and US have reduced the urgency of transforming business models and much of the financial sector has backtracked on climate targets and demoted their top sustainability leaders.

But in its new report, Competing in the Age of Disruption, CISL – one of the top institutions to train sustainability talent worldwide – argues that this is actually a chance for companies to accelerate their sustainability transition and secure their future.

From complacency to value

Drawing from its CEO Lindsay Hooper’s insights, as well as contributions from more than 20 business leaders, the paper presents six priorities for the corporate world to make this a reality: shifting mindset from complacency and compliance to value, competition and transformation; redirecting resources towards concrete efforts developing strategic foresight tools to prepare for the transformation and influence politics; working with pre-competitive innovators to create and protect value; advocating to build fair and future-fit markets; and building alliances and momentum to ‘move the middle’ and win the public debate.

“From climate shocks to clean tech disruption, the forces reshaping global markets are already accelerating. The real danger for business isn’t moving too fast – it’s being overtaken,” warned Hooper.

CISL CEO: ‘Silence isn’t neutrality – it’s a strategic risk’

She added: “The companies that win will shape the market conditions they need to thrive and compete through speed, innovation and resilience, not through sitting back and hoping for the best. In this landscape, silence isn’t neutrality – it’s a strategic risk because it cedes the narrative to those profiting from delay, and leaves business unable to shape the very rules its future depends on.”

According to CISL, businesses now face existential risk from two directions: systemic instability from our potential failure to transition to a sustainable economy, and competitive displacement if the transition accelerates faster than companies can respond to.

But there are also big opportunities for companies that get on board with the transition, with entire sectors being rebuilt and projected trillions of dollars in value for the sustainable solutions market. This means those that move early in clean technology, resource efficiency, and resilient, low-carbon business models are likely to be rewarded and it is in companies’ interests to accelerate the sustainable transition.

Paul Gilding, Environmentalist and CISL Fellow, added: “Politics is chaos. Market sentiment is fickle. The laws of nature are unchanging. There are two paths ahead: economic collapse or deliberate, innovative and disruptive economic change. The only choice for business leaders is whether to play to win.”