2026 Annual Trends Report: Competing Pressures, New Approaches

This 2026 trends report from the ERM Sustainability Institute unpacks key sustainability trends and corporate responses across a range of themes, including sustainability strategy and disclosure, energy and decarbonisation, the intersection of technology and sustainability, and environmental, health, and safety. The report highlights four key trends: a shift towards actionable and measurable sustainability initiatives; the growing complexity of energy solutions as demand rises; the evolving intersection of sustainability and emergent technologies, such as AI; and recalibrating EHS investments to move beyond compliance and towards driving value. For each trend, the report explains three noteworthy elements, explains why those elements matter now, and highlights key responses from the corporate sphere. This report will help a broad range of sustainability and risk professionals, as well as senior leaders, to become acquainted with looming sustainability-related challenges and opportunities.