What This Report Covers
Sustainability and Competitiveness Go Hand in Hand
In recent years, a growing narrative in the EU policy debate has suggested that strengthening Europe’s competitiveness requires rolling back environmental and sustainability regulations, and that businesses support this approach. Ask business leaders directly, and a very different picture emerges.
Based on a survey of 350 senior business leaders across Europe, this WWF and GlobeScan report challenges the idea that sustainability is holding back European competitiveness. Nine in ten leaders believe the transition to a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable economy strengthens long-term business competitiveness, yet many say recent changes to EU sustainability rules have increased uncertainty, wasted resources already invested in compliance, and undermined the business case for future sustainability investment.
Rather than lower environmental ambition, business leaders want the EU to provide predictable and coherent policy, practical implementation, consistent enforcement, public investment and incentives, and access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy. The findings reveal a clear gap between the conditions businesses say they need to compete and their confidence in the EU’s ability to deliver them. The report draws on these findings to present WWF’s recommendations for creating a competitive, resilient, and sustainable European economy.
Key Insights:
- Sustainability is seen as a competitive advantage: Nine in ten senior business leaders, 91 percent, believe the transition to a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable economy strengthens long-term business competitiveness, either directly or despite short-term challenges.
- Reopening EU rules is increasing uncertainty: Only 29 percent of business leaders describe the impact of recent EU legislative simplification efforts on their company as positive. Among those reporting negative or mixed effects, increased uncertainty about the future direction of EU policy is the most frequently cited consequence.
- Businesses want predictable policy and practical implementation: Senior leaders identify predictable and coherent EU policy as the leading priority for long-term competitiveness, followed by public investment and incentives for the green transition, and access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy.
- Confidence in the EU’s ability to deliver is low: Business leaders express limited confidence that the EU is on track to deliver several of the conditions they consider essential for competitiveness. More than half (56 percent) also believe the EU is unlikely to achieve its key sustainability goals under current conditions.
- WWF calls for efficient delivery: The report recommends stable and predictable rules, smarter implementation, consistent enforcement, targeted public investment, greater mobilization of private finance, and a credible pathway away from fossil-fuel dependence.
Together, these findings challenge the idea that Europe must choose between sustainability and competitiveness. Senior business leaders instead see the sustainability transition as a source of resilience, security, and long-term economic strength. Their concern is not with the ambition of EU sustainability legislation, but whether the EU can provide the certainty, investment, clean energy, and implementation support needed to deliver it successfully.
The research was commissioned by WWF European Policy Office and designed, conducted, and analysed independently by GlobeScan in accordance with ESOMAR’s ethical and professional standards. The online survey gathered the views of 350 senior business leaders based in Europe during June and July 2026, spanning a range of countries, sectors, company sizes, and seniority levels. Results are reported at the full-sample level.
WWF is an independent conservation organisation, with over 35 million followers and a global network active through local leadership in over 100 countries. Our mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. The European Policy Office contributes to the achievement of WWF’s global mission by leading the WWF network to shape EU policies impacting the European and global environment.
