Sustainability Trends Shaping Global Industries: Innovations, Regulations, and Real-World Impact

Once a peripheral concern for many businesses, sustainability has become a critical and core operational focus driven by a series of global developments and regulatory evolution. Looking back, the 2015 Paris Agreement was the turning point, uniting governments around the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

In the same year, the UN introduced the Sustainable Development Goals, providing a blueprint for addressing environmental and social challenges, while a series of landmark reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also highlighted the need for urgent and systemic action. When government responses lagged and leaders fell short, global climate protests surged in 2019, led by figures like Greta Thunberg and movements such as the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. The pandemic further deepened the public’s environmental awareness, drawing a clear connection between daily activities and social behaviors, like their work commute and damage to nature and the planet.

The resulting growth of eco-conscious consumers has helped catalyze new sustainability regulations. In 2023, the European Union’s Corporate Social Responsibility Directive came into force, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission followed suit with climate reporting regulations for public companies a year later. Similar reporting measures are advancing in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

All these developments are set against the backdrop of worsening climate crises, with extreme weather events—wildfires, floods, and droughts—becoming more frequent and deadly. Recognizing their outsize influence, many multinational companies now acknowledge their essential role in mitigating climate change’s worst impacts.

By rethinking and upgrading their operations and processes, companies can come closer to achieving their carbon neutrality goals, harmonize with natural ecosystems, and safeguard their–and the planet’s—future. In this context, actively driving sustainability initiatives is crucial. Here’s what several global industries are doing to lead the way:

#1. Food

The global food system accounts for 25% and 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste constitutes one of its most pressing decarbonization challenges. Globally, a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Big brands have focused on advertising campaigns designed to change consumer behavior, such as Hellmann’s Make Taste Not Waste campaign. However, the real innovation is coming from technology companies. For example, the surplus food-sharing app Olio has gone from a start-up in 2018 to a multimillion-dollar business. Meanwhile, hospitality outliers are building entire operations around food waste eradication. Billing itself as the ‘world’s first zero-waste restaurant,’ Silo in London, UK, only works with suppliers who deliver products in returnable vessels.

Regenerative farming

Major international food brands –Danone, General Mills, Mars, Pepsico and Unilever – are beginning to move away from produce grown using industrial agricultural practices based on monocultures of high-yield cereal crops grown using synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. In the face of evidence that such methods are degrading soils, polluting the watercourse and threatening biodiversity, the regenerative agriculture movement is emerging as the solution. It is all about farming in harmony with nature; it typically involves traditional crop rotations, minimal plowing, planting complementary crops together and creating space for wild flora and fauna.

Plant-based

With a plant-based diet resulting in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than diets in which more than 100g of meat a day is eaten, the rise in eco-conscious consumers has been accompanied by a growing number of people reducing or eliminating meat and dairy consumption. The global vegan food market is projected to grow from USD 37.37 billion in 2024 to USD 103 billion by 2032. However, this upward trajectory is not entirely smooth. Current consumer trends include a turning away from mock meat products due to a combination of straitened finances and the broader backlash against ultra-processed foods.

#2. Retail

Consumers increasingly care about buying environmentally and ethically sustainable products. In a 2020 McKinsey US consumer sentiment survey, more than 60% of respondents said they would pay more for products with sustainable packaging. Globally, four-fifths of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products despite the financial pressures of the cost-of-living crisis, according to PwC research across 31 countries. With consumer demand clear, many retailers are responding.

Circularity

Across the retail spectrum, the transition is underway from a linear, make-use-discard business model to a circular one, in which products and materials are recycled, repurposed or reused. As savvy retailers recognize the financial and environmental benefits of extending product lifecycles, initiatives like buyback schemes, product repair services and resale platforms are gaining traction. It makes sense for others to follow their lead, as new EU regulation will soon require products sold in Europe to have a Digital Product Passport to enable comprehensive digital records of product lifecycles.

Fashion

As well as being a key contributor to plastic pollution, the fashion industry accounts for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and a fifth of wastewater. Due to the sheer complexity of its global supply chains, the only way to address these issues is through cross-sector cooperation, as attested by the growing movement of collaborative NGOs and membership organizations – like Better Cotton, Cascale, Textile Exchange, Fashion Revolution, New Standard Institute and STITCH. However, the associated upsurge in sustainability standards and certifications – like Cradle to Grave, Fairtrade, Global Organic Textile Standard, Global Recycled Standard, Made in Green and Oeko-Tex – isn’t giving brands and retailers the clarity they need. Ultimately, all standards and labels must be amalgamated into a universal language alongside a single method for calculating textile and product environmental footprints.

#3. Tourism

The summer of 2024 saw a wave of protests against overtourism across the Mediterranean, but primarily in Spain and Portugal. Locals were angry about the vast influx of visitors, which was putting an increasingly unbearable strain on infrastructure, resources, and housing in terms of availability and affordability. They were also concerned about rising pollution levels and urbanization, with inhabitants of the Canary Islands fearing that their archipelago’s precious landscapes and wildlife are at risk.

Impact transformation

One obvious strategy for travel and tourism companies is to market less-common destinations; however, this doesn’t fully address the sustainability challenges at overtourism’s heart: how tourism impacts local communities and environments. With some destinations beginning to respond with new regulations, like the restriction on tour numbers in Venice, Italy, responsible tourism brands are getting ahead of the game by reducing tour group sizes and strengthening links with the local communities by hiring residents, sourcing from local suppliers and partnering with local cultural organizations. A helpful resource in this area is the Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Map, which showcases sustainable services, accommodations and tours.

Regenerative tourism

The most forward-thinking travel companies are embracing regenerative tourism, which goes one step beyond sustainability by aiming to improve destinations. Research shows a viable market, with Booking.com’s 2024 Sustainable Travel Report finding that 71% of travelers want to leave the places they visit better than when they found it. Some adventure travel companies are already partnering with initiatives that preserve, restore and enhance local infrastructure and landscapes. For instance, Vaya Adventures and Wildland Trekking have contributed to the Torres del Paine Legacy Fund, which focuses on conservation efforts in Chile’s iconic national park.

#4. Technology

Data is everything when it comes to sustainability. For regulatory compliance, green certification, marketing to eco-conscious consumers and innovation to improve credibility, businesses must measure and collate metrics regarding carbon emissions, energy consumption, water usage, waste production and human rights challenges. Thanks to advanced data analytics, the power of AI and the Internet of Things—the fitting of network connectivity and sensors to tools and physical objects—a new wave of technological innovators is emerging to streamline sustainability data collation, analysis and reporting.

In the travel and hospitality sector, for example, Danish tech specialist BeCause offers a technology framework that modernizes how data flows between tourism providers, distributors and certification entities by providing a centralized hub. Other start-ups offering sustainability data solutions include Germany-based Briink, which is creating an AI-driven product to help sustainability professionals extract actionable insights from datasets. In Kenya, Amini is focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through AI and satellite technology.

Digital carbon footprints

Digitalization brings its own environmental costs. As the demand for digital services booms, the data centers that house the internet’s infrastructure – like servers, storage systems and cooling equipment – increasingly consume energy and release emissions. They’re responsible for 2.5% and 3.7% of all human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Most tech giants have consequently set ambitious decarbonization targets. However, it’s Google’s goal of running all its data centers and office campuses on renewables matched at a granular level in terms of supply and demand by 2030 – a practice known as 24/7 carbon-free electricity – that’s set to have the most significant impact in the broader energy transition. With experts now clear that energy provenance and temporality are essential for the global electricity grid’s decarbonization, simply buying renewables via energy certificates is no longer enough.

#5. Aviation

As global aviation traffic continues to bounce back after the pandemic—increasing by more than 35% between 2022 and 2023—and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) predicts that demand for air transport will grow by an average of 4.3% per annum over the next 20 years, the need for its decarbonization is urgent.

Sustainable aviation fuels

Kerosene-based jet fuels, derived from crude oil, are the primary factor in aviation, accounting for 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have developed sustainable aviation fuels that can reduce CO² emissions by up to 80%. Made from feedstocks like waste oil and fats, green and municipal waste and non-food crops, they currently only account for 1% of aviation fuels because of scalability issues. Both hydrogen and electric-powered planes have been touted as alternatives, but hydrogen is bulky and difficult to store in large quantities (to be sustainable, it must be made from renewable sources, and supplies are currently minimal). Likewise, electric battery storage is not yet advanced enough. Batteries with enough energy are just far too heavy.

Airplane design

A new generation of ultra-efficient, highly aerodynamic airplanes is in development. Boeing is collaborating with the US space agency NASA on a transonic, truss-braced wing much longer and thinner than conventional craft. Initial tests showed a 9% reduction in fuel burns, but the aim is to achieve a 30% reduction and have the aircraft in service between 2030 and 2035. Meanwhile, Airbus wants to extend plane wings by incorporating biomimicry – biologically inspired engineering – into the design. Newer market players are looking at radically different designs. Dutch startup JetZero is designing a design that blends the body and wings to create a V-shaped aircraft. Meanwhile, the return of open propellors is on the cards, with CFM – a joint venture between America’s General Electric and France’s Safran – claiming that its open fan Rise engine could reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 20%.

The race to embrace sustainability is intensifying across all sectors, as is mitigating the growing impact of climate change. Businesses can no longer afford to sideline sustainability initiatives as consumer expectations, regulatory demands, and environmental realities continue their march forward. From the food we eat to the planes we fly in, industries are being reshaped by the push for more sustainable practices and solutions.

As these trends accelerate, businesses must take a proactive role to meet regulatory requirements and reshape their operations for long-term viability. The future belongs to the companies that embed sustainability at the core of their operations. Those who take decisive action now will reduce their environmental impact and strengthen their position in a market that increasingly prioritizes eco-conscious choices—especially when we have no choice.