Stat: Sustainability remains on the CEO agenda despite decline

Global – A new report from Bain & Co shows that while CEOs are using fewer public sustainability statements, they are increasing action and linking sustainability to business value. 

The Visionary CEO’s Guide to Sustainability 2025 report, released in September 2025, defines the ‘do-say gap’ as the discrepancy between leaders’ public statements and their actual actions, particularly in terms of ESG initiatives and emissions cuts.

Bain’s analysis, based on more than 35,000 statements from 150 major companies in 2018, 2022 and 2024, finds that more CEOs see sustainability as central to costs, customers, operations and capital – not just a moral or regulatory obligation. Some 54% of sustainability mentions by CEOs in 2024 were business-driven – up six percentage points since 2022.

‘After the initial years of bold ambitions and target-setting, CEOs took a reality check on their sustainability agenda last year,’ said Jean-Charles van den Branden, Bain & Co’s global sustainability practice leader, in a press release. 

The report states that 25% of industrial CO2 emissions can now be reduced with positive return-on-investment levers such as energy efficiency, circular design and supply chain localisation. A further 32% could become profitable with moderate investment and evolving technologies. 

Find more insights about what’s new and next in sustainability in our Rebranding Sustainability series.