Published by Bain & Company, this 2025 report argues that sustainability has shifted from aspiration to execution. While CEOs speak less publicly about sustainability, they continue to act — a phenomenon the authors call the “do-say gap.” The report draws on proprietary surveys, market intelligence, and Bain’s Decarbonization Lever Library to show that levers already ROI-positive today can abate 25% of global CO₂ emissions, and that pragmatic action on sustainability will distinguish tomorrow’s leaders.

• 2025 Trends: Explores the do-say gap, barriers stopping consumers from living sustainably (cost, accessibility, lack of innovation), and how sustainability is creating B2B commercial growth — with half of B2B customers already giving more business to sustainable suppliers.
• Getting It Done: Examines how AI is being used by leading “shaper” companies to accelerate sustainability outcomes; provides a CEO playbook for climate resilience built on redundancy, modularity, and decentralisation; and analyses five key decarbonization practices in private equity portfolios, drawing on CDP data from 824 PE-owned companies.
• Transitions: Covers the urgent business case for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) markets, the profit and growth opportunities in circular business models (with case studies from Hydro, Siemens Mobility, and Trane Technologies), and the structural disruptions facing packaged food companies driven by health consciousness, climate disruption, food tech, and geopolitics.