Key Takeaways
- Radical revision is now the majority position, and it is growing: Fifty-nine percent of sustainability experts say the current approach to sustainability must be radically revised, up from 56 percent a year ago, while the share saying the agenda works well as it is fell from 6 percent to 4 percent (2026).
- Almost nobody defends the status quo: Ninety-five percent of experts call for change of some kind, combining 59 percent who want radical revision with 36 percent who want modest revision because they believe we are largely on the right track. The debate is not about whether the agenda needs to change, but how fundamental that change should be.
- Where you sit shapes how far you would go: Calls for radical revision are strongest among academic and research experts (77%), NGOs (69%), government (65%), and experts based in Europe (68%), and weakest in the corporate sector (49%) and in Latin America and the Caribbean (46%). Almost no one in any group endorses staying the course.
Almost Six in Ten Sustainability Experts Now Want the Agenda Radically Revised
Sustainability experts are increasingly calling for a fundamental rethink of how sustainability is being advanced. The Sustainability at a Crossroads 2026 survey, conducted by GlobeScan, ERM and Volans, asked 610 experts across 57 countries how they feel about the current state of the sustainability agenda. Results show that patience with incremental progress is running out.
In 2026, 59 percent of sustainability professionals say the current approach must be radically revised, up from 56 percent a year ago. Another 36 percent believe the approach needs some revision, while just 4 percent now say the current approach works well as it is, down from 6 percent in 2025. With 95 percent calling for change of some kind, and support for radical revision continuing to increase, patience with incremental progress appears to be diminishing.
The appetite for change is near-universal, but its intensity is not evenly spread. Academic and research experts are the most radical (77%), followed by NGOs (69%), government (65%), and service and media (63%). Corporate experts are the clear outlier, with 49 percent favouring radical revision and 44 percent preferring modest change, suggesting greater confidence in adapting and improving existing approaches than in redesigning them. Regionally, Europe stands apart at 68 percent calling for a radical revision, against 54 percent in North America, 53 percent in Asia-Pacific and Africa and the Middle East, and 46 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. Even where the appetite for radical change is lowest, fewer than one in ten experts want to continue as we are.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This almost unanimous call for change call for change by sustainability professionals signals that the compliance-and-disclosure era has reached the limits of its credibility with the very community that helped build it. Increasingly, experts appear to favor approaches that change incentives and accountability through regulation, pricing mechanisms, supply-chain requirements, and legal enforcement rather than relying primarily on disclosure, reporting, and voluntary action. This suggests that the future of sustainability may depend less on standalone sustainability teams and reporting, and more on embedding sustainability into the core commercial drivers that shape markets, products, and long-term business value.
Find out more about how sustainability experts see the future of the sustainability agenda evolving in our upcoming report Sustainability at a Crossroads 2026.
How This Insight Was Generated: This analysis draws on insights from the Sustainability at a Crossroads survey, completed by 610 sustainability experts across 57 countries between June and August 2026, 2026.
Survey Question: How do you personally feel about the current state of the sustainability agenda? Please choose one.
