Despite the noise, business isn’t backing down on sustainability

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​

As the U.S. retreats from global climate efforts, it’s easy to focus on the negative. Yet most companies and investors aren’t just maintaining their sustainability commitments — they’re accelerating them. 

New research indicates that the private sector is forging ahead. A Harvard Business Review analysis of 75 global companies found 53 percent are holding steady on sustainability commitments, 32 percent are expanding on them — and just 8 percent are retreating. According to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the adoption of science-based targets continues to accelerate, with the number of companies setting near-term targets doubling and those committing to net-zero targets tripling in the past 18 months.

Next, follow the money. Globally, clean energy and grid investments are projected to reach $2.2 trillion in 2025 — twice the amount expected to flow into fossil fuels. Despite the U.S. federal government’s dismantling of policies supporting clean energy, S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates that clean energy will keep growing at a strong clip in the U.S. through 2030. Clean energy stocks are soaring — the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index gained 44 percent over the past year, significantly outpacing fossil fuels, with the S&P 1500 Oil & Gas Drilling Sub-Industry Index dropping 17 percent.  

Blue-chip companies lead the way 

Companies and investors we work with are taking strong public action. For instance, this year, General Mills updated its Climate Transition Action Plan, sharpening the action around four climate levers, from agriculture to transportation, first identified in last year’s plan to help meet its goals of cutting emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. With a strong focus on assessment, policy, governance and human rights, the updated plan underscores General Mills’ commitment to transparency and collaboration.

Corporate water action is also gaining ground. Our latest Valuing Water Finance Initiative benchmark shows that two-thirds of companies improved their performance since 2023. Danone, Gap, Microsoft and PepsiCo lead the way in the four major industries we assessed, making advances on several fronts to reduce their impact on water and strengthen resilience. This is in line with expectations of the initiative, which is the only investor-led global effort focused on water action.  

The role of investment and advocacy 

With COP30 in the Brazilian Amazon putting the spotlight on protecting forests and other natural ecosystems, Nature Action 100 is proving how quickly investors can mobilize for change. Since its launch two years ago, the world’s first and largest global investor-led initiative on nature and biodiversity loss has expanded to over 240 investor participants, underscoring the growing recognition that nature’s resilience is essential to safeguarding the global economy.

And then there’s advocacy. For all the talk that companies are afraid to speak out in this political environment, they continue to do the important work of pushing for climate and clean energy policy. We saw dozens upon dozens of major companies and investors head to Capitol Hill throughout 2025 to champion and defend federal clean energy incentives, advanced manufacturing investment and good-paying jobs. 

This fall, we watched more than 40 business entities rally in support of reauthorizing California’s nation-leading cap-and-invest program. That’s a timely reminder about the opportunity for states to set policy and provide leadership. And late last month, leading companies in Illinois successfully backed the passage of one of the most important affordability wins of the year — model legislation for reducing electricity costs, modernizing infrastructure and delivering clean energy.

Stay focused despite the headwinds

Now, I am very clear-eyed about the current headwinds. At a time of global economic change, when the U.S. has every incentive to lead in clean industries and technologies, the federal government is actively obstructing progress on clean energy and competitiveness. Meanwhile, special interests are waging a politically-driven campaign to force investors to ignore climate risks, introducing hundreds of state laws to control private investment strategy.

But despite all of this obstructionism, companies are acting and investment is flowing. Because sustainability is good for business and essential for long-term value creation and global competitiveness. The only affordable path for meeting America’s surging energy demand is through clean, American-made power. 

A decade after the Paris Agreement, while we’ve fallen short of our most ambitious emissions goals, we must recognize the progress we’ve made. We avoided the UN’s projected estimate of up to 7.8 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century and the Rhodium Group estimates that warming is highly unlikely to exceed 3.9 degrees by 2100 and could be limited to 2 degrees. Every single tenth of a degree of warming counts. 

So stay focused. Make the case through advocacy, investment, or transition plans that clean energy is essential to economic growth and energy security as power demand and prices continue to rise. Just last month, JPMorgan’s global head of sustainable solutions underscored this point, warning that the U.S. will struggle to meet the energy demands of its rapidly expanding tech sector without wind and solar. 

Trust science and market forces

Around the world, the momentum behind a sustainable, clean energy economy is undeniable and unstoppable. It’s propelled by potent market and geopolitical forces including accelerating competition, rising energy demand, the global race for energy security, and the need to cut pollution and safeguard natural resources that businesses rely on. Politics will shift, but physics and market forces won’t. 

Act globally. International cooperation, coupled with private sector action, is an economic imperative to prevent escalating financial risks. A new Ceres analysis shows that five key drivers of nature loss could cost eight global sectors up to $430 billion each year. Yet, government and business action are already fueling economic and job growth, innovation and investment worldwide.

I’m an optimist, precisely because of the 35-plus years Ceres has spent driving home the business case for sustainability. Now is the moment to focus on how far we’ve come, how much we’ve learned and how much we have to gain — and lose.