Call sustainability what you want but focus on its financial opportunity

The author contends that sustainability should be embedded into core business strategies to unlock innovation and margin expansion. By focusing on supply chain inefficiencies and traceability, companies can reduce waste and costs while increasing revenue. Examples from Ingka Group and Avery Dennison illustrate that reducing emissions can coincide with revenue growth.

• Climate risks, including extreme weather and ecosystem collapse, are directly impacting corporate balance sheets by disrupting procurement, delaying logistics, and inflating costs.
• The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that extreme weather events have cost the global economy more than $2 trillion over the last ten years.
• Integrating sustainability into business models can lead to simultaneous emissions reductions and revenue growth, as seen with Ingka Group (30.1% emissions cut and 23.7% revenue growth compared to FY23) and Avery Dennison (nearly 60% emissions reduction and 46% revenue growth since 2015).
• Supply chains are identified as primary areas for driving profit and progress by eliminating waste in production, inventory, delivery, and disposal.
• Implementing traceability technologies like radio frequency identification (RFID) can reduce overproduction and waste; one collaboration with a retailer using digital tags for fresh items is expected to reduce food waste by 25–30% and increase sales by 2%.

APA

Colarossi, M. (2025). Call sustainability what you want but focus on its financial opportunity. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/sustainability-financial-opportunity-business-new-york-climate-week/

Chicago

Colarossi, Michael. Call sustainability what you want but focus on its financial opportunity. World Economic Forum, 2025. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/sustainability-financial-opportunity-business-new-york-climate-week/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Colarossi |first1=Michael |title=Call sustainability what you want but focus on its financial opportunity |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=16 September 2025 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/sustainability-financial-opportunity-business-new-york-climate-week/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{colarossi2025call, author = {Colarossi, Michael}, title = {{Call sustainability what you want but focus on its financial opportunity}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/sustainability-financial-opportunity-business-new-york-climate-week/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }