Reflections from Davos to NYC Climate Week: The Latest in Global CSO Views

New York has just wrapped up its role as city-sized host to sustainability leaders from business enterprises both large and small. At 2026 NYC Climate Week, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) exchanged views on issues like:

• The long-term outlook for expanding their company’s corporate sustainability efforts
• Progress in developing core corporate sustainability strategies at the highest levels of the enterprise
• Quantifying the necessary investments for climate change and other transitions (AI, anyone?)
• Colleagues embracing or resisting changes in basic operations
• Ways to win approval from corporate leadership for things that must be done

Responding to these ever-present needs and questions, we bring you some good news from a new global survey of CSOs from the influential global organization World Economic Forum (WEF). The survey was guided by the WEF Sustainability Community’s Steering Committee, which includes companies from the U.S. (Amazon, Microsoft), Europe (Volkswagen, Standard Chartered), and Asia (Ant Group, Hong Kong Exchanges).

This inaugural survey from WEF’s Centre for Nature & Climate engaged 189 CSO members from February to September 2026. The report, titled From Ambition to Action: What Chief Sustainability Officers See from the Business Frontline, is brief but with powerful insights for sustainability professionals.

In the main, the findings are that in CSOs’ collective view, corporate sustainability efforts are not fading, but persisting – and in some cases, even accelerating. A majority of CSOs expect their corporate sustainability efforts to continue and even expand because of demonstrable business case payoffs. Large companies’ CSOs argue that a material business case makes the sustainability journey worth the financial investment in foundational operational changes and other transitional stepping stones. Of course, the transition comes with many challenges for CSOs to navigate.

Important insights:

• In the short-term theme, the CSOs describe the landscape as one of progress despite headwinds.
• Longer-term, CSOs foresee moving “from compliance to competitiveness,” with sustainability as a core business capability.
• An “execution challenge” remains, in which half of corporate leaders still must be convinced of the value of their firm’s sustainability efforts.

This latter item identifies a crucial gap. The WEF authors observe in their survey results that “while the business case is strengthening, organizational perceptions are evolving more gradually.” For example, only 41% of respondents say their C-suite perceives environmental sustainability as a “source of business growth or value.” A larger portion – 50% – see it as the foundation for social license to operate, and a 65% majority identify it as a compliance obligation. The authors reflect that “closing this gap depends on translating complex global agendas on climate, nature, food and water into commercial value and operational performance.”

Where does this leave CSOs? WEF sets out their defining challenge: “to maintain momentum under short-term pressure by strengthening the business case, governance mechanisms and organizational capability behind sustainability.”

At the beginning of 2026, New York Times journalist David Gelles reported from another annual gathering point – the WEF’s Davos conclave – that the usual talk about climate had been relegated to the back seat. A trigger: Speaking at Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax” and the shift to renewable energy sources “a new green scam.” And so, at least in the public eye, company representatives went silent, wrote Gelles. In place of an agenda item about sustainability – an ongoing important theme of Davos gatherings in recent years – there was crypto and geopolitics.

The new CSO survey puts the present and future of corporate sustainability back in public discussion for WEF interests. Progress continues, if slightly hushed for a time.

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Founded in 2006, Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A) is a New York–based sustainability consulting and research firm advising corporate leaders and investors at the intersection of strategy, governance, and regulation. For two decades, we have partnered with executive teams and boards to translate sustainability strategy into durable enterprise value — helping organizations navigate shifting market expectations, evolving policy landscapes, and increasing capital markets scrutiny. Set up a call to learn more about how we can help your company.

Hank Boerner

Chairman & Chief Strategist

Henry (Hank) Boerner is a strategist, trendwatcher, researcher, author, editor & publisher, and issues “sentinel” who detects and frames critical emerging trends as these affect and influence leaders and their organizations.He is expert in crafting effective strategies for addressing and scoping critical issues and resolving real or potential crisis situations that affect corporate, public and social sector organizations, and has been a trusted senior advisor to executives and boards in these sectors in the United States and other countries for more than three decades.