The 2026 Sustainability Shakeout: A look at what the year ahead might bring

On the latest episode of the State of Sustainability, host Saif Hameed discusses the "wholesale functional shift" and organisational overhaul that defined 2025, where sustainability teams were frequently moved under procurement or legal departments to address supply chain resilience and compliance. Saif also highlights a "general demotion" of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), noting that many of these roles have transitioned from reporting directly to the CEO to sitting deeper within the executive chain. This structural change is accompanied by a growing demand for harder technical skills - such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and data science - as companies move away from generalist roles to focus on carbon as their primary, and often solitary, metric.Looking toward 2026, Saif offers a "cynical realist" outlook, predicting a continued "sustainability freeze" and "green hushing" where companies talk less about their achievements while reducing budgets and incremental initiatives. He anticipates a massive vendor shakeout among distressed software and consultancy providers, alongside a significant "retrenchment" of 2030 climate targets as businesses realize many of their original goals were aspirational rather than achievable. Despite these challenges, Saif emphasises that supplier-specific carbon data is becoming "table stakes" for procurement and that actual progress is being made at a much larger scale than a decade ago.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq. This time Saif speaks with Buffy CEO Leo Wang about how the bedding brand successfully built a sustainable product while pivoting its market message away from environmentalism toward consumer concerns about safety, comfort, and performance.Key Takeaways:• Initial Intent vs. Market Reality: Buffy began around 2017/2018 with the idea that the mass consumer was ready for bedding informed by sustainability values, but mass distribution quickly showed that leading with this message alienated customers.• Safety and Trust as the Wedge: For many North American consumers, "sustainability" often translates to concerns about safety and trust, focusing on whether a product is safe for the household and family, rather than purely environmental impact.• The Sugar Pill Strategy: Buffy intentionally "architected" its product to be highly sustainable (the "medicine") but prioritized performance and comfort messaging (the "candy") so the broad audience would unknowingly buy the ethical product.• Performance is Paramount: Consumers often exhibit weariness toward sustainability claims, worrying that ethical products will be less soft, "crunchy," or defective compared to traditional alternatives, making performance an overriding purchase criterion.• Sustainability as Table Stakes: Deep sustainability has become "table stakes" for D2C brands - a basic check mark that assures the consumer they are not a bad person by buying the product, but not a primary purchase differentiator.• Distribution Demands: Distribution channels, including mass retail and digital advertising, force businesses to appeal to the "least common denominators" of consumer criteria, making financial stability and consistency critical over expensive, deep-seated ethical claims that customers rarely absorb.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.This time, Saif takes the mic solo to dive into a topic that - according to former Starbucks CSO Michael Kobori - is about to become everyone’s priority: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.In this episode, Saif unpacks his "hot takes" on EPR that you won't find in standard reports. He explores:• The rise of EPR: How a concept once dismissed by the "Jesuits of capitalism" as fantasy has evolved into hard law across Europe and the US.• The hidden drivers: Why cash-strapped municipalities and visceral consumer concerns about waste are accelerating these schemes faster than traditional ESG regulations.• The compliance headache: The complexity of navigating fragmented global schemes and the "who watches the watchers" problem regarding Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) and their conflicts of interest.• The market reaction: How the "fruit flies" of the corporate ecosystem (consultancies and software providers) are swarming to solve the data burden.• The opportunity for circularity: Moving beyond the "tax" mentality to a model where brands actually get their materials back - improving durability and reducing costs.Rather than viewing EPR simply as a cost of doing business or a funding mechanism for waste collection, Saif makes the case for a strategic shift - where forward-thinking companies use these schemes to close the loop on their own products, driving true additionality and system change.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Welcome to another episode of the State of Sustainability.In this episode, host Saif Hameed takes a deep dive into Bill Gates‘s controversial COP 30 memo. Saif is joined by Faisal Tajdar, head of projects at Acasus. Acasus is an impact focus consultancy that partners with governments around the world on public sector reform. Across his time at Acasus, the Gates foundation and Mackenzie, Faisal has been involved in healthcare reform work in several countries and multiple continents. To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit https://altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.This time, Saif takes the mic solo for another short-form content byte, and he’s tackling one of his long-standing bugbears: ESG. Or more specifically, why it’s the end of ESG as we know it (and why that might not be a bad thing).In this episode, Saif unpacks why the term “ESG” has always bothered him - and why it might be time to finally retire it. He explores:The origins of ESG as a concept designed for financial institutions, not operating businesses.How the framework became overloaded with hundreds of unconnected KPIs that can’t meaningfully be compared.Why “brand ESG” has lost its meaning - and how its politicisation (particularly in the US) has turned it into a cultural flashpoint.The path forward: focusing on what actually matters to each business, by breaking the ESG basket into specific, strategic priorities owned by the right teams.Rather than treating ESG as a checklist or reporting exercise, Saif makes the case for a return to fundamentals - where companies define what truly drives value, resilience, and impact for them, and commit to doing fewer things, better.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit https://altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.This time, Saif takes the mic solo for a special short-form episode - part of a new series of “content bytes”, where he shares quick insights on what’s new and topical in the sustainability space.In this episode, Saif tackles one of the drier – but essential – topics shaping the future of corporate sustainability: regulation. Specifically, he explores the UK’s shift from Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) towards the new UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS).He delves into why this transition matters – the reasoning behind bringing the UK’s reporting frameworks together, the push for greater consistency, and what this means for organisations preparing for the next wave of disclosure requirements.Rather than simply summarising the standards, Saif takes a more qualitative approach: reflecting on the key shifts these changes represent, their practical implications, and where the broader sustainability reporting landscape may be heading.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit https://www.altruistiq.com/This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.This time, Saif is joined by David Sykes. David is an independent consultant on Data Science and AI, and was formerly Global Head of Data Science, Analytics and Engineering at Octopus Energy Group, where he spent the better part of a decade building Octopus’s data and AI capabilities.His experience offers a unique perspective on how AI can unlock value across business functions - particularly in advancing sustainability and operational impact.In this episode, David and Saif discuss how AI is reshaping the sustainability landscape - from tools and teams to the mindset shifts needed to make it work. They explore where AI is already creating rapid value, which levers are harder to pull, and what sustainability professionals can do to stay ahead of the curve.As David puts it:"Stop using AI just through the chat window and start figuring out what else it can do. Workflows, tool use, MCP which is this protocol for how you connect AIs to other tools so that’s how you might go and connect to Spotify or something like that and then maybe try a vibe coding platform something like Lovable to build something and see how it works. Just push yourself and you’ll learn a lot and upskill through that."Links to content mentioned in the episode:How people are using ChatGPT (OpenAI)State of AI in Business 2025 Report (MLQ.ai)AI and the Future of Work (YouTube)Harvard Business School Working Paper 24-013To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit www.altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

"Keep in mind, we have IPCC 2019 telling us about the last decade, those words still ring in my ears loudly and clearly: we read in 2019 dear friends, you have one decade to go, if we are not managing to turn around climate change in the next decade, we're going to be shooting past 1.5 and even past two degrees."The State of Sustainability podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability with me, Saif Hameed, founder and CEO of Altruistiq.This time, I’m joined by Renat Heuberger. Renat is a Swiss climate activist, serial entrepreneur and impact investor. He co-founded myclimate and South Pole, two pioneering organisations in carbon markets, and today leads Terra Impact Ventures. Over the past two decades, his work has mobilised billions of dollars into climate projects across more than 50 countries, avoiding over a billion tonnes of CO₂. In recognition of his impact, he was named a Social Entrepreneur by the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation.Renat and I explore the beginnings of the carbon market, the journey of South Pole, and his perspective on what the future holds for carbon markets.To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit https://www.altruistiq.com/This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

"What we're going to see over the next probably 20 to 30 years is a profound value shift but it's not necessarily going to come where we most expect it. So Europe for example, I think is being left behind. It's doing a lot of regulation and all the rest of it but in a sense that's old order approach to the sustainability agenda."The State of Sustainability podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability with me Saif Hameed, founder and CEO of Altruistiq. This time I'm joined by John Elkington. John is a serial sustainability entrepreneur and has been an observer and collaborator of corporate sustainability since the 80s. He’s credited with coining the terms 'green growth' and 'triple bottom line' and has been called the 'dean of the corporate sustainability movement' by Business week. John and I explore the current ESG downturn, lessons learned through previous downturns and we look at how companies and countries are adapting. We also  discuss what makes a high performing sustainability professional today. To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit altruistiq.comThis podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

We've spent the last few months working on improvements to the podcast, lining up a fantastic selection of guests to help us discuss a wide range of topics in the sustainability space.