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Insight of the Week
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Key Takeaways
- Asia-Pacific
is the clearest
growth story.
Nearly two-thirds
of respondents
expect its
influence on
sustainability to
increase, making
it the region with
the strongest
positive momentum.
- The
EU and China are
expected to
remain
influential
agenda setters.
Both are seen as
playing an
increasingly
important role in
shaping
sustainability
priorities,
standards, and
expectations in
the years ahead.
- Influence
is becoming more
geographically
distributed.
While respondents
are more likely to
expect the United
States’ influence
to decline than
increase, they
also see signs of
growing influence
in regions such as
Latin America and
the Middle East
and North Africa,
pointing to a more
diverse global
sustainability
landscape.
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Where Is
the Future of
Sustainability
Being Shaped?
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Across this series based on new
research from
GlobeScan and
BSR,
sustainability
professionals
at large
companies have
described an
environment in
which
sustainability
efforts are
becoming more
focused, with greater emphasis on compliance,
tighter
resources, and
a narrower set of priorities.
As companies
adapt to these
changing
conditions, an
important
question
emerges: where
will the
future
sustainability
agenda be
shaped?
When asked how regional
influences on
sustainability
are likely to
evolve over
the next three
years,
respondents
point to a
changing
global
landscape of
influence.
Asia-Pacific
stands out as
the region
most widely
expected to
gain
influence,
with nearly
two-thirds
(62%) of
sustainability
professionals
anticipating
its role will
grow. The
European Union
and China are
also expected
to play
increasingly
important
roles in
shaping
sustainability
priorities,
standards, and
expectations
in the years
ahead. There
are also signs
of growing
influence in
regions such
as Latin
America and
the Middle
East and North
Africa.
At the same time, respondents are
more likely to
expect the
influence of
the United
States on the
sustainability
agenda to
decrease (43%)
rather than
increase
(23%).
Together,
these findings
suggest a
rebalancing of
influence
across
regions, with
sustainability
increasingly
shaped by a
broader range
of actors,
markets, and
policy
environments
rather than
becoming
concentrated
in any single
geography.
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The future sustainability agenda
is likely to
be influenced
by a broader
mix of regions
than it is
today. These
findings
suggest a
balancing of
influence
across regions
rather than
the emergence
of a single
new center of
gravity. For
companies,
success will
increasingly
depend on
understanding
how
sustainability
priorities
evolve across
multiple
markets and
translating
those signals
into
strategies
that are
globally
coherent while
remaining
relevant to
local
contexts.
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To find out more about how large
companies are
shifting from
ambition to
implementation,
the GlobeScan
BSR State of Sustainable Business
2026 report provides
a snapshot of
how corporate
sustainability
is evolving
today based on
insights from
124 senior
sustainability
professionals
at large
global
companies.
How This Insight Was
Generated: This
analysis draws
on an online
survey
conducted by
GlobeScan and
BSR in April
and May 2026
among 124
sustainability
professionals
working at
companies with
annual revenue
of $1 billion
or more, the
majority of
whom are based
in North
America and
Europe.
Survey Question: How much,
if at all, do
you think
regional
influences on
sustainability
will change
over the next
three years?
For each of
the regions or
countries
below, please
use the scale
to best
describe
whether you
feel its
influence on
sustainability
will decrease,
say the same,
or increase.
Headquarters represented: North
America,
Europe, and
Other regions.
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GlobeScan
is an insights
and advisory
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specializing in
trust,
sustainability,
and engagement.
We equip clients with insights to
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Corporation.
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