Companies and governments have invested USD 17 trillion in sustainability technologies over the past decade, but 29 of 37 technologies monitored by Bain & Company developed more slowly than expected, according to the fourth edition of The Visionary CEO’s Guide to Sustainability. Only solar photovoltaics, batteries and electric vehicles exceeded forecasts made a decade earlier.
Investment concentrates in three sectors
Global sustainability investment reached a record USD 2.4 trillion in 2025, but 90% went to clean energy, buildings and transport. Agriculture, industrial manufacturing, materials and natural capital received less than 10%, despite contributing approximately 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Bain’s Green Technology Performance Index compares the development of 37 technologies in 2025 with projections from 2015. Three outperformed, 29 underperformed and the remainder were broadly in line with expectations.
Jean-Charles van den Branden, Bain’s global sustainability leader, says uneven progress creates choices for companies on investment and resilience, rather than proving that the overall transition has failed.
Environmental concern rises among consumers
Of 7,500 consumers surveyed in the US, UK, Italy, Brazil and Indonesia, 85% said they were concerned about the environment, up from 79% a year earlier. Some 83% reported at least three environmentally beneficial habits, compared with 73% in 2023. Even people describing sustainability as unimportant increasingly engage in such behaviours, often because of cost, health or resilience rather than environmental motives.
Respondents said they were willing to pay an average of 18% more for environmentally friendly products, rising to 24% when they offered health benefits. More than half reported shopping locally more often.
Climate resilience requires timely investment
Bain estimates disaster-related losses are growing 5–7% annually. An analysis of nearly 150,000 assets across twelve sectors identified opportunities to improve resilience during construction or scheduled upgrades. Solar installations have relatively frequent upgrade opportunities; steel and cement plants may have investment cycles of 25–35 years, making missed opportunities difficult to reverse.
AI energy use is widely overestimated
In surveys of 400 executives and consumers, respondents forecast AI would account for about 11% and 19% respectively of global energy use in three years, while Bain’s own Intersect model estimated 0.7%. These are model assumptions rather than measured future consumption. Nearly two-thirds of consumers said concerns about AI had already affected their behaviour, including data sharing and choice of platforms.
Among firms advanced in both AI and sustainability, 90% regard AI as a way to accelerate environmental goals, compared with 41% of lagging firms. Bain also notes an internal disconnect: business leaders prioritise financial returns on sustainability-focused AI projects, whereas sustainability specialists place compliance and risk reduction higher.
Patryk Rudnicki, managing partner of Bain’s Warsaw office, says companies must examine where investment, regulation and customer behaviour make progress commercially viable.
Source: Bain & Company, The Visionary CEO’s Guide to Sustainability, fourth edition. Polish source article.
