We are living in a time of great upheaval. Across the world, traditional alliances are weakening, globalisation is retreating and digital technologies are evolving at what can feel like breakneck speed.

This uncertainty is heightened by the rising impacts of climate change, with droughts, floods, and wildfires taking lives, destroying property, and hitting food yields. Despite this, in parts of the West, some governments are rowing back on their climate commitments, leaving many investors asking – is sustainability cancelled?

Pain points drive business innovation

Amid today’s noise, it is easy to lose focus on the long-term story – the deep changes taking place across our economy and wider society.

Driven by pain points – such as the threat to food production from soil degradation; rising healthcare inequalities; and property insurance hikes due to increasing extreme weather events – corporations are seeing that current business models are unsustainable. To enable continued, sustainable growth, they must innovate and adapt.

Key system changes

As they do, these early adopters are accelerating changes across five key systems. In energy, industry, consumer, and healthcare we are seeing the rise of clean technologies, circular business models, and greater social accessibility, with technology acting as a cross-sector enabler.

Though some governments have cooled on their sustainability commitments, deglobalisation is pushing many to invest in securing strategic industries. This is further accelerating the transition to renewable energy and circular supply chains, with recycling – especially of critical minerals – increasingly important for avoiding disruptions to complex global supply chains.

From ideology to economics

As businesses and governments respond to today’s pain points, they are accelerating the transition away from today’s linear, wasteful, unsustainable model, towards a net-zero, nature-positive, socially constructive, and digitally enabled economy.

Where ideology was once the key catalyst, we are now entering a new era of economics-led sustainability.

Read more:

– Investing in Global System Changes

– Rethink Sustainability

– Author: Hubert Keller, Senior Managing Partner, Lombard Odier

– This contribution is brought to you by Lombard Odier, a valued diamond event partner of Building Bridges 2025