3 in 5 APAC executives say geopolitics dampen sustainability investments

Seven in 10 executives globally also see the importance of climate technology.

Three in five Asia Pacific (APAC) executives agree that geopolitics is driving down their organisation's sustainability investment projects, according to a Capgemini Research Institute report.

Alarmingly, seven in 10 executives globally said they would never meet their sustainability goals without climate technology.

However, APAC organisations are taking significant steps to reduce their environmental footprint, especially in areas like circular economy, sustainable product design, measurement, and water management.

For instance, 72% of organisations measure the energy consumption of their industrial processes and 68% share sustainability-related data across the entire organisation.

Meanwhile, 73% of APAC executives said that their organisation focuses on water stewardship today; however, only 57% publicly report the outcomes of their social sustainability initiatives, and only slightly more than half (52%) make their products affordable to local communities.

Upskilling and reskilling on hard sustainability skills is a top priority for the organisation by 65% of executives, which was higher than the global average of 60%. 

Furthermore, 73% of APAC executives said that their organisations train employees on the importance of sustaining the environment, and 72% implement training to adopt sustainable practices in-office.

Globally, in terms of sector, consumer products in the manufacturing industry have made the most consistent progress year-on-year (YoY), with its sustainability index moving from 100 in 2022 to 115 in 2023 and to 127 in 2024, representing a 15pp increase and a 12pp increase, respectively.

Meanwhile, the financial services industry improved most significantly this year, with its index rising to 134 from 108 in 2023.

The industry with the least improvement is utilities, which had an index of 103 in 2023 and 108 in 2024.

To hit the Paris Agreement goals, organisations need to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.