Por: Simon Weaver, Global Head of ESG Advisory, KPMG International
External contributor INFORSE
The world is in a state of deepening geopolitical and economic uncertainty. For the business community, long-term planning is becoming increasingly challenging, if not impossible.
For the C-Suite, the climate crisis and associated pressing social issues are part of a growing inbox of issues, risks and complexities. While it’s understandable that sustainability is no longer the dominant conversation, it remains vital that – as a business community – we stay focused on tackling what could become an existential threat to an already fragile global economy.
The climate crisis often elicits a natural human inclination to resist the profound transformations required across sectors and communities. While a resounding “yes” might be the common answer when asked about averting climate change or ensuring social equity, daily boardroom decisions frequently reveal a reluctance to embrace significant change.
In my client discussions, there are three ways to respond to this reluctance: appealing to emotions, pointing to regulation, or proving the financial business case.
Sustainability through the financial lens
Too often, the easiest path chosen is to rely on regulation as the primary driver for action. However, as current geopolitical developments demonstrate, regulatory uncertainty can cause momentum to stall, and the rationale for action to dissipate when the “compliance stick” is removed. It’s my view that this highlights a critical need to move beyond seeing sustainability as mere compliance. Instead, as the KPMG 2025 CEO Outlook confirmed late last year, business leaders increasingly recognize sustainability as more than a moral obligation. It is fundamental to strategic foresight, financial performance, organizational resilience, and ultimately, enterprise value. The challenge is bringing this into day-to-day decisions around resilience, efficiency and growth.
To truly drive change, “those in the know” must work harder to prove the robust financial business case for sustainable action. This means clearly demonstrating how integrating sustainability considerations into core growth strategies can lead to operational efficiencies, innovation opportunities, risk mitigation benefits, and ultimately, positively impacting financial performance.
What this looks like in reality?
Recent KPMG analysis provides a tangible example of this, where sustainability-related opportunities of a food and beverage portfolio company were identified. When quantifying and acting on value drivers, such as waste monetisation and energy efficiency, the analysis demonstrated a potential EBITDA margin uplift, taking it from 8 to 18 percent.
What next?
The sheer scale of global challenges, such as breaching planetary boundaries or the projected $1,700 trillion economic cost of climate change, can be difficult for individuals to connect with in their day-to-day decisions. This underscores the need to connect scientific understanding with tangible financial decisions at both government and company levels.
KPMG are actively partnering with others to bridge this gap. For example, we are collaborating with WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) to develop various resources and guides centered on the financial business case for sustainable actions. Our focus has been on demystifying the value creation and preservation of sustainability strategies for businesses, aimed at equipping finance teams and sustainability practitioners with knowledge to turn sustainability challenges into opportunities for growth. Throughout our work with WBCSD, it’s evident that being open about the issues and working collaboratively is going to be the key to genuinely tackling the challenges that lie ahead.
This era demands pragmatic sustainability, where long-term value creation and preservation is intrinsically linked to responsible business practices. By foregrounding the financial business case and fostering collaboration, we can move beyond resistance and short-term adaptation and harness the collective power of businesses to build a more resilient, profitable, and sustainable future.
