Sustainability more integrated into business models
For almost seven out of ten companies, ESG principles are a lever of competitiveness, but there remains a large gap between large and small companies
Key points
The most relevant fact that emerged from the 2026 survey on 'The Third Way of Sustainability', conducted by iSustainability in the first months of the year on a sample of 96 companies belonging to different industrial sectors and size classes, concerns the consolidation of sustainability as a competitiveness factor. In fact, 67% of the companies surveyed consider it to be a lever of innovation and competitive advantage, or in any case an element that is predominantly oriented towards competitiveness rather than just regulatory compliance. This is a significantly higher result compared to last year, strengthened by another particularly indicative element: 77% of the companies have maintained their investment plans in sustainability despite the weakening of regulatory pressure and the strengthening of openly negative positions on the environmental front coming from overseas and in part also acknowledged in the European debate. This cultural evolution is producing concrete effects on at least two fronts: access to credit and the generation of economic value. On the first front, 38% of companies claim to have obtained more favourable financing conditions thanks to improved sustainability performance. On the second, more than 60% of the sample report direct benefits from integrating sustainability into business: greater energy efficiency, progress in decarbonisation, product and supply chain innovation, access to new markets, as well as a strengthening of the company's reputational and social value.
Margins of improvement
Compared to the previous edition, the research also sought to measure the level of concrete implementation of this awareness. And it is precisely in this area that large margins for improvement still emerge. The use of artificial intelligence applied to sustainability today concerns only 31% of the companies surveyed, while just 24% monitor the carbon footprint generated by their digital platforms. This figure appears even more relevant if we consider that almost 50% of companies have already experienced significant or sporadic environmental impacts on their activities. Yet, only 45% plan or have already initiated investments in climate adaptation: a lower proportion than those companies that have already experienced real damage.
The Gap
Last but not least, there is the strong implementation gap that has emerged between large companies and SMEs: while there is not much difference in terms of commitment to the topic, there is a significant gap in the ability to translate this orientation into structured and operational processes. Indeed, smaller companies continue to suffer from a lack of skills, organisational structures and adequate resources, thus slowing down the path of sustainable transformation, despite being fully aware of the competitive benefits it can generate.
