Capgemini: 68% of executives prioritize climate adaptation, 83% plan to increase spending
Businesses are placing greater emphasis on climate adaptation, with 68% of executives saying their organizations ...
Capgemini: 68% of executives prioritize climate adaptation, 83% plan to increase spending
Businesses are placing greater emphasis on climate adaptation, with 68% of executives saying their organizations actively prioritize it, up from 56% in 2025, while 83% expect to increase climate adaptation spending over the next 12-18 months, according to the fifth edition of the Capgemini Research Institute’s A World in Balance: The resilience reset report.
The report said climate disruption, water stress, resource constraints and geopolitical volatility are putting growing pressure on business operations, supply chains and growth, prompting organizations to focus more on resilience, business continuity and access to critical resources.
Resilience moves up the agenda:
Nearly nine in 10 organizations report that climate-related events have disrupted their supply chains. More than three-quarters of executives say their organizations are accelerating efforts to integrate energy and resource resilience into business and sustainability strategies.
Nearly two-thirds of executives identify energy and critical-resource security as a key driver of sustainability investment. More than seven in 10 say securing access to critical resources, including energy, water and materials, now has greater influence on sustainability decisions than emissions-reduction targets.
Water-related risks are also gaining attention, with 61% of executives expecting water scarcity to become a greater constraint on business growth than energy availability over the next five years.
Despite growing awareness, climate-risk readiness remains uneven. Only 15% of organizations have fully quantified the financial impact of climate-related disruptions, while just over one in four executives say their organizations have assessed climate risks across their extended value chains or deployed climate-risk analytics tools.
At the same time, the share of executives saying their organizations are underprepared for climate impacts has fallen to 44% in 2026 from 54% in 2025.
Sustainability investments deliver returns:
Nearly seven in 10 organizations say their sustainability initiatives have generated a net-positive return on investment.
Some 64% of executives say sustainability investments have boosted sales, up from 47% in 2025, while 74% say sustainable practices have enhanced their brand equity.
Organizations spent 1.04% of revenue on sustainability initiatives last year, above the 0.8% initially allocated.
In manufacturing and other asset-intensive sectors, nearly two-thirds of executives say sustainability investments have improved operational efficiency under supply constraints, while slightly more than half say they have strengthened their ability to anticipate and respond to operational and supply-chain disruptions.
Net zero execution lags:
Despite broad sustainability commitments, implementation remains challenging. Some 84% of organizations say they have set science-based targets, up three percentage points from 2025, but only 42% say they are on track to meet their 2030 or interim targets.
The gap is particularly evident in net zero programs. The share of organizations falling behind on their net zero goals has risen to 11% in 2026 from 1% in 2025, while 29% say they have postponed their net zero objectives, compared with 8% last year.
Nearly two-thirds of organizations say aligning sustainability efforts with science-based targets remains challenging. Data availability, measurement and value-chain visibility continue to hamper progress, with only 34% of organizations able to measure and collect data across all Scope 3 emissions, down from 54% in 2025.
AI supports sustainability:
Nearly two-thirds of organizations use AI to advance their sustainability agendas, while more than a third use or plan to use agentic AI for sustainability initiatives.
AI’s environmental impact is also receiving greater attention, with seven in 10 organizations saying its sustainability implications are discussed at board level.
However, measurement remains limited. Nearly half of executives say AI has significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, while only slightly more than a third say their organizations measure the energy consumption and associated carbon footprint of their AI systems and workloads.
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