Now is when your responsibility and positive business impact must stand out

If business leaders ever had a responsibility to use their positive spheres of influence, it’s now. And talk about a time when that was also a chance to differentiate. This report makes the case for responsibility and net-positive business, examining 15 specific enterprise examples alongside broader industry dynamics.

Responsible business is simultaneously risk management, differentiation, and the right thing to do. Identify and act on your most material positive spheres of influence and impact. Whether through climate action or championing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), this differentiation is now exceptionally powerful. But it does demand bravery and boldness.

The next generation of leaders—individuals, teams, or organizations—must realize that there is still time to get ahead and help create a system that works for business, the environment, and society. It’s crucial to be a part of building this system before the tipping point. History shows that change often arrives suddenly—from civil rights to ecosystem collapse. Those who lead now will be the ones policymakers, consumers, and industries look to in the future.

Previously, we have also explored the need for systems change and why businesses must prove transition planning works in the absence of sufficient policy (see Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1: Transition planning must identify material near-term spheres of influence and integrate them with the long-term global sustainability trajectory

Source: HFS Research, 2025

Now is the time to differentiate, starting with materiality assessments and transition planning

Materiality assessments enable businesses to find opportunities to be a part of a critical mass, build transition plans, embed sustainability into operations, and overcome common barriers such as fragmented collaboration or legacy debt, as we assess here.

Transition planning establishes a plan of action toward responsible business and your positive spheres of influence (see Exhibit 2). Dynamic transition planning also provides visibility to investors, connecting sustainability initiatives directly to value creation. Organizations that demonstrate live, adaptive transition plans will build credibility, push regulatory bodies toward mandating action, and cement themselves as examples to follow. Those who hesitate will be dragged forward once the system is revealed to have changed.

Exhibit 2: Focus on material spheres of influence to maximize your impact on sustainability

Source: HFS Research, 2025

Responsible organizations are creating the stories that can contribute to changing the ‘overstory’ that net-positive impact is the future for business

Beyond the stories below, you’ll find many others, including data analytics and AI combinations optimizing physical, financial, and business processes; waste reductions through new product and supply chain designs; resilient operations leading to cost avoidance; and IT efficiency as data centers and apps modernize in tandem with AI’s development (see our separate take on AI’s sustainability role here).

A well-used example to begin with is Patagonia. This clothing company has integrated sustainability into its brand identity, encouraging product longevity with 20-30% carbon, water, and waste reductions and 120,000 items resold in 2023. Recent progress includes improving the living wage coverage of their supply chains, enhancing traceability  for sourcing and certifications such as Fair Trade, which now covers more than 90% of their product factories, supporting grassroots activism that is globally under fire, and like many brands, also including Adidas that does this with shoes, has ‘kept 1700 tons of plastic out of the oceans… into gear.’

The Patagonia Environmental Internship Program allows employees two months to engage with an environmental organization; well over 1,000 have taken up this offer. Employee turnover is less than 4%, and revenue has continued to grow. Its founder eventually transferred ownership to a trust and nonprofit (‘going purpose’ vs. ‘going public’), ensuring that the profits fund climate and conservation efforts—the expectation was $100 million paid out in 2023.

Another often-cited case is Unilever’s brands, such as Dove and Ben and Jerry’s, which, since their Sustainable Living Plan was first implemented in the early 2010s, achieved outcomes like 46% higher annual growth rates at a high point. More recently, executive and comms changes have thrown doubt onto ‘sustainability’s sustainability’. From Unilever insiders, that’s nonsense. Unilever also has a very public transition plan with science-based impact reduction targets and outlines clearly the systems-changing sphere of influence it’s reaching for. Like so many DEI or sustainability communications recently, there are changes in tone, but strategy and internal action largely remain the same.

Ikea, NextEra, BHP, Ball Corporation, ITV, and TalkTalk have also disclosed sustainability transition plans. The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector has a long-term mandate and widespread, though often undisclosed, transition plans. However, it currently operates ‘soft collaboration’ with clients whom they need to help transition. NextEra’s energy transition planning, for instance, started by exploring alternative fuels over 45 years ago; it is now one of the world’s largest renewable energy producers. ITV’s goes beyond its internal impact to the systemic sphere of influence in media, as we’ve emphasized for some time. We also specifically covered TalkTalk and the telecoms sector here.

Less well-trodden examples include:

• Interface’s Mission Zero, ReEntry, and Climate Take Back programs for decarbonization, circularity, and ultimately becoming carbon negative. These initiatives have strengthened brand loyalty and cemented market leadership for the flooring firm while giving a template for the sector to follow, while also hosting Walmart and Mars—for example—as part of a broader aim for systemic influence, as well as building business partnerships.
• City Developments Limited (CDL) sustainable real estate projects, such as 11 Tampines Concourse and City Square Mall have attracted eco-conscious tenants and investors.
• CELSA Group’s circular economy model uses recycled steel and electric arc furnaces, achieving a 95.1% waste recovery rate and reducing CO₂ emissions by 36% compared to industry averages, meeting the growing global demand for ‘green’ steel.
• Grupo Bimbo is committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity in 2025 and operates Mexico’s most significant electric delivery fleet, boosting the bakery’s operational efficiency and brand loyalty.
• De Bortoli Wines embedded sustainable farming and water recycling practices, earning Platinum Partner status under the New South Wales Government’s Sustainability Advantage Program and building its brand reputation.

To finish, risk management and resilience show their own differentiation and value in many ways. A good example is Porsche’s shares falling by 4-5% in July 2024, and production estimated to have fallen by 10,000-18,000 vehicles due to a climate-induced aluminum shortage. Flooding in Germany meant Porsche’s supplier couldn’t meet its contractual obligations… and neither could Porsche thereafter.

The Bottom Line: You can still get ahead.

There is still time to lead. Being part of building the next system—one that works for business, the environment, and society—will pay off and include (non-exhaustively):

• Environmental: Efficiency in energy, water, and waste management; a stronger relationship with nature; and a more secure resource supply
• Social: Finding and retaining the best talent; improving employee and population health and wellbeing; better community ties
• Economic: Customer loyalty, supply chain transparency, and ecosystem collaboration, unlocking everything from optimization to innovation

Leaders who act now will find themselves on the right side of business and history. Those who delay will be left scrambling to catch up.