MIT Report: Corporate commitment to sustainability soars, but roadblocks to execution remain

Corporate commitment to sustainability has reached a record high, but oversight is lagging and external disruptions are keeping companies from delivering transformational results. That’s according to the 2026 State of Supply Chain Sustainability report from the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT CTL), released this month.

Researchers surveyed 1,810 supply chain professionals across 91 countries and found that 83% rate sustainability as important or very important to long-term business success, the highest level in the report’s seven-year history. What’s more, the report found that corporate commitment has grown despite recent shifts in U.S. climate policy, with 59% saying they have become more committed to sustainability while just 13% say they have become less committed.

Those advances are being tempered by outside factors. Nearly 70% of respondents said that tariff uncertainty has forced their organizations to delay, scale back, or compromise sustainability strategies, and more than eight in 10 said that geopolitical conflict is reducing the effectiveness of climate action.

Internal problems exist as well: The study also found that companies’ public sustainability ambition is outpacing the governance and accountability needed to deliver results.

This story was originally published by Supply Chain Quarterly. Read the full story at Supply Chain Quarterly →