Pillars of The Green Transition 2025

For all the fervor that once animated climate discourse, fatigue has begun to creep in. Companies that made sustainability a central pillar now face funding slowdowns and political reversals, rendering 2025 a precarious juncture in the green transition.

“The external environment has shifted. In 2020–2021, there was momentum: talk of systemic change, financing, infrastructure upgrades, electrification, recycling, policy alignment, and cross-sector collaboration. Much of that has since become a headwind,” says Jim Andrew, CSO of PepsiCo. 

Those headwinds are palpable across industries. Ishan Palit, CEO of testing and certification company TÜV SÜD, notes that while consumer pressure has played a role in steering progress, it “isn’t yet strong enough to fill the gap left by retreating government subsidies.”

With five years to meet 2030 deadlines - the Paris Agreement, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and corporate net-zero pledges - the moral case alone won’t be sufficient to sustain hard-won momentum. Cyril Garcia, Global Sustainability Services & Corporate Responsibility Head of Capgemini, observes: “Even when companies understand the urgency and have the right solutions, many hesitate. They worry about how the market will perceive the cost and whether now is the right time.” Yet, he stresses: “long-term resilience is precisely what sustainability provides.”

Today, that resilience is measured in hard economic terms. Energy sovereignty is becoming synonymous with national security. Sweeping rules on packaging and recycling are reconfiguring supply chains for consumer goods. And in transportation, one of the highest-emitting sectors, reforms are unfolding into inevitability. These three arenas form the focus of this report.

Market volatility and shifting policies cloud the horizon, but they also reveal players who grasp sustainability as a competitive imperative. At the fault line, the next decade’s winners will be those with enough conviction to act before missed targets exact a hefty cost - in both capital and carbon. 

Written by: Michaila Byrne

Project Director: George Clarke