Balancing energy security and sustainability

At the start of the year, as we looked ahead at the key sustainability trends to watch in 2026, we wrote that sustainability is becoming a story of how stakeholders balance near-term priorities with long-term realities.

In the first quarter of 2026, this turned out to be even truer than we anticipated. A war with Iran that started in February has continued to unfold across the region, with ripple effects for energy, supply chains and financial markets around the world.

In real time, we’re seeing companies and countries weigh immediate needs like energy security, affordability and availability against longer-term priorities like sustainability and decarbonization. The war is altering the energy calculus, putting energy security firmly in the spotlight. But that could reinforce some countries’ renewable energy rollout as oil and gas supply chains unravel and prices soar.

The research that follows offers insight into how markets around the globe are navigating competing priorities. We see a robust trajectory for clean technology in 2026, even as some markets roll back sustainability policies. We explore how the EU is revising some regulations to balance sustainability and competitiveness. Our research also shows that financial institutions are making some progress on decarbonization and Scope 3 emissions disclosure, even as the outlook for sustainable bond markets appears neutral in 2026. And we explore how some companies are responding to mounting physical risks from climate change with adaptation efforts.

As the year unfolds, we remain focused on how these dynamic forces will shape the evolving sustainability landscape.