Sustainability Under Pressure: How Firms Are Responding to New Rules

Global supply chains are operating in an environment where sustainability pressures, shifting regulations, and evolving customer expectations are reshaping how companies design, manage, and govern their networks. Policy changes, Scope 3 requirements, and supply chain decarbonization demands are no longer episodic disruptions but continuous forces that redefine what it means to remain competitive. Traditional sustainability strategies, built around isolated initiatives or compliance oriented reporting, struggle to keep pace when expectations accelerate across entire value chains.

This talk draws on insights from the 2025 State of Supply Chain Sustainability report to outline an integrated view of how organizations are adapting to this landscape. The report synthesizes responses from 1,203 professionals across 97 countries, revealing how companies are recalibrating governance, supplier engagement, emissions measurement, and technology strategy to operate under persistent pressure. For practitioners, this perspective highlights how sustainability is shifting from a set of commitments to a systems level capability.