What Australian Business Leaders Need to Hear in 2026

This article was contributed by &BLOOM Sustainability & ESG.

Strategic sustainability has moved into the core of the business

For many Australian business leaders, the past year has felt contradictory. Climate and social risks are becoming more tangible, yet the external conversation around ESG feels noisier and more politicised. Regulation appears more narrowly focused – particularly on climate reporting – while expectations from investors, customers, employees, and supply chains continue to rise.

What’s actually happening is less dramatic, but more important. Sustainability is no longer advancing through statements, strategies, or reports alone. It is increasingly showing up – for better or worse – in day-to-day business decisions. This is the quiet shift toward strategic sustainability: where sustainability is treated as a lens for long-term value, resilience, and competitiveness, rather than a standalone agenda.

Visibility is no longer the measure of progress

Most organisations now have the basics in place: policies, targets, disclosures, and narratives that signal intent. That work was necessary. But it is no longer a reliable indicator of how well sustainability is embedded strategically.

The real test is simpler: does sustainability influence decisions that matter? Capital allocation, procurement trade-offs, growth plans, risk appetite, and investment horizons.

Where it doesn’t, a gap opens up between public commitments and internal reality. Strategic sustainability closes that gap by reframing ESG from a reporting obligation into a decision-making input. This is where many business leaders feel the tension – not because sustainability lacks relevance, but because it has not yet been fully integrated into commercial thinking.

Where it doesn’t, a gap opens up between public commitments and internal reality. Strategic sustainability closes that gap by reframing ESG from a reporting obligation into a decision-making input. This is where many business leaders feel the tension – not because sustainability lacks relevance, but because it has not yet been fully integrated into commercial thinking.

Strategic sustainability shows up as trade-offs

The value of sustainability becomes clearest at moments of pressure. When costs rise. When supply chains are disrupted. When assets are acquired, expanded, or exited. When climate volatility, workforce constraints, or community expectations affect operations.

In these moments, sustainability stops being abstract. It becomes a way of understanding exposure, resilience, and long-term value – and of navigating trade-offs more deliberately.

This is the essence of strategic sustainability: using impact, risk, and value chain thinking to focus attention on what genuinely matters to the business, early enough to influence outcomes. For Australian companies operating in global markets, this approach is increasingly expected, regardless of local regulatory thresholds.

Leadership determines whether sustainability is strategic

As sustainability moves closer to the centre of the business, it can no longer sit neatly with one team or role.

Organisations making meaningful progress are those where business leaders engage directly with sustainability – not as subject-matter experts, but as decision-makers who understand its strategic relevance. Strategic sustainability requires judgement, prioritisation, and comfort with uncertainty, rather than perfect data or polished answers.

In practice, progress often comes from earlier, imperfect decisions informed by sustainability insight, rather than from later, flawless disclosures.

Accelerate your sustainability journey today

Australian businesses are at a quiet but important inflection point.

One path treats sustainability as a compliance exercise to be managed and contained. The other embraces strategic sustainability – embedding environmental and social considerations into strategy, risk management, and value creation. Where do you want to be?

At &BLOOM, we work with business leaders navigating this shift. Our ESG Quick Scan is designed as a practical starting point – a way to step back and understand where sustainability currently sits across impacts, risks, opportunities, and decision-making, without launching into a full reporting or transformation process.