The World Economic Forum’s Chief Sustainability Officers Outlook survey has indicated a global transition which shows clear signs of progress backed by commercial and technological momentum despite significant drag from geopolitical fragmentation and marked scrutiny on short-term performance.

The inaugural survey, published on Tuesday, was conducted amid escalating conflict in the Middle East which affected the Strait of Hormuz and rattled global markets.

The survey noted that CSOs have continued to navigate the geoeconomic volatility with more conviction than caution. 

“Some 63% expect global sustainability progress to hold steady or accelerate over the next 12 months, and three in four expect companies’ transition-related investment to do the same driven by a clear economic argument (64%) and increasingly applicable technologies (56%),” the survey revealed.

According to the report, the result demonstrated a “green divergence,”a transition splitting into different sectors and regions moving at very different speeds, even as the global green economy, now worth more than $5 trillion annually, is on track to top $7 trillion by 2030 and remains among the fastest-growing segments of the world economy.

The World Economic Forum managing director, Sebastian Buckup, stated, “Chief sustainability officers are telling us the transition is no longer a question of ambition, it’s a question of execution. As companies deliberately anchor sustainability strategies in growth, security and resilience needs, execution speed and priorities increasingly diverge across regions and sectors.”

The survey noted that some 73% of CSOs expected artificial intelligence to meaningfully accelerate sustainability progress over the next year, particularly in measurement, reporting, efficiency and risk modelling. 

“Yet 77% of CSOs flag the energy and resource intensity of AI infrastructure itself as its most significant negative impact, as data centres already account for roughly 1.5% of global electricity demand, a green divergence playing out inside a single technology,” it explained.

The survey noted that some 85% of CSOs expected adaptation to become a bigger global priority over the next three years and 77% said private-sector investment would be decisive to scaling it, adding tjat companies already managing resilience proactively were seeing adaptation bets paying off. 

“The conversation is shifting from whether to act on sustainability to how fast we can prove it pays off. CSOs today are expected to deliver a business case as rigorous as any other investment decision, on resilience, on AI, on the transition as a whole. The organizations that treat this as a growth opportunity, not a compliance exercise, are the ones that will be ahead when the numbers are finally called in,” said Katharina Beumelburg, Chief Sustainability and New Technologies Officer, Heidelberg Materials.

The report highlighted that “the challenge is no longer recognizing physical risks but demonstrating the value of investing in resilience”, a shift laid bare this year as extreme heat and wildfires forced companies and insurers alike to confront the cost of being unprepared.

The World Economic Forum’s Chief Sustainability Officers Outlook tracks how the CSO role is evolving and what is driving, or blocking, progress on global sustainability. 

The inaugural report on the CSOs Outlook Survey, conducted between 10 February and 18 March 2026, gathering responses from 103 sustainability leaders across five continents, members of the Forum’s CSO community, was convened by the Forum’s Centre for Nature and Climate.