The proportion of trade skilled who don’t know if their firm has an ESG technique has risen sharply, a brand new survey exhibits.
GlobalData’s Q2 2025 Sentiment Polls survey, carried out throughout the corporate’s community of B2B information web sites, discovered that the proportion of respondents who didn’t know if their firm had an ESG technique elevated to 30% from 19% in Q1 2025. Concurrently, the proportion of respondents who stated that their firm had an ESG technique fell to 39% from 46% in Q1.
In its report accompanying the survey outcomes, GlobalData stated: “The rising anti-ESG motion primarily began within the US and has since unfold to different elements of the world. Anti-ESG politicians, foyer teams and different stakeholders have put strain on firms to drop their ESG methods. This may increasingly create confusion amongst workers as as to whether their firm nonetheless has an ESG technique.”
Certainly, the anti-ESG motion might also be contributing to a change in firm priorities. Of the 5 main themes polled, ESG is now ranked backside when it comes to what respondents imagine will most impression their enterprise within the subsequent 12 months, having fallen under cybersecurity. As well as, the bottom proportion of respondents, 7%, indicated ESG since This autumn 2023, when the figures stood at 4%.
The highest three themes respondents anticipate to impression their enterprise over the subsequent 12 months are geopolitical battle (40%), excessive inflation (33%) and digitalisation (10%).
“As soon as once more, geopolitical battle was the theme with the best rating when it comes to disruptiveness,” GlobalData outlined. “The proportion of respondents answering on this method elevated from 36% in Q1 2025 to 40% in Q2. Geopolitical tensions have elevated steadily in current quarters, with issues about conflict within the Center East ratcheting up in Q2 because the US bombed nuclear websites in Iran.”
It added: “For the second consecutive quarter, excessive inflation was simply off the highest spot of perceived disruptiveness. Financial issues have been rife this quarter, particularly with uncertainty across the US authorities’s tariff coverage. Nonetheless, the danger of geopolitical battle is perceived as a better short-term risk.”
GlobalData additionally famous that high-profile cyberattacks on UK retailers, together with Marks & Spencer and Co-op, have led to an elevated deal with cybersecurity.
Join our day by day information round-up!
Give your online business an edge with our main trade insights.
