Sustainability has moved from aspiration to expectation.
Contents
Employees, investors, customers, and regulators increasingly expect organizations to demonstrate how sustainability contributes to long-term business value. Yet for many companies, there remains a wide gap between public commitments and day-to-day operational realities. Sustainability is often discussed at the leadership level, but capital allocation, execution, and measurement frequently fall short.
This research report, authored by GlobeScan and sponsored by Salesforce, examines how senior leaders view sustainability as a driver of value creation and why progress has been slower than expected. Based on a global survey of 234 senior leaders across sustainability, finance, and technology functions, the study reveals where organizations struggle to turn intent into impact.
The report identifies four critical gaps that prevent sustainability from delivering measurable commercial value.
You will learn how:
- More than 90 percent of leaders say sustainability is important to commercial success
- Only about half of senior management teams allocate significant capital to sustainability initiatives
- Salesforce research shows sustainability value is often linked to reputation rather than operations
- Core business areas such as innovation, cost reduction, and sales are underleveraged
- Collaboration between sustainability, finance, and technology remains limited
- Only 37 percent of organizations say sustainability is very integrated into their core business
- Data quality is a major barrier to measuring sustainability impact
- Ninety-five percent of leaders say high-quality sustainability data is critical
- Fewer than three in ten organizations have access to high-quality sustainability data
The report explains that while sustainability is widely viewed as strategically important, it is rarely embedded into the systems that drive capital allocation and decision-making. Leaders often focus on brand, reputation, and stakeholder perception, which creates value but does not always translate into operational or financial outcomes.
Four gaps consistently emerge across organizations. The capital gap reflects insufficient funding for sustainability initiatives despite stated importance. The implementation gap shows sustainability efforts concentrated in communications rather than operations. The integration gap highlights weak collaboration between sustainability teams and finance or technology leaders. The data gap reveals limited access to reliable sustainability performance data, making it difficult to link initiatives to business outcomes.
The research also highlights the growing role of regulation. New reporting requirements such as ISSB and CSRD are increasing pressure on organizations to collect, manage, and report sustainability data. While many leaders are increasing investment in data systems, the report cautions that data alone is not enough. Sustainability must be embedded into strategy, governance, and capital allocation decisions to drive real value.
Finance and technology leaders play a pivotal role in closing these gaps. When sustainability data is integrated into financial planning, performance management, and technology platforms, organizations are better positioned to evaluate risk, identify opportunity, and justify investment. Improved collaboration across these functions is essential for sustainability to move beyond reporting and into execution.
This white paper is designed for C-suite leaders, sustainability executives, finance leaders, technology leaders, and strategy teams seeking to align sustainability initiatives with measurable business value.
Download the report from Salesforce to understand how organizations can close the gap between sustainability commitments and operational realities and unlock sustainable value creation.
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