73 percent of businesses kept their sustainability commitments through 2025's policy shifts
MIT finds that pressure in Europe comes from regulation, while in the United States it comes from investors and competitors.
Despite major policy shifts in 2025, such as the United States pulling out of the Paris Agreement and the European Union curtailing its proposed sustainability legislation, about 73% of businesses have not changed their sustainability commitments, according to a new report from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “In Europe the pressure primarily comes more from regulation, but in the U.S. it comes more from investors, or from competitors.” - Josue Velazquez Martinez
The stability of commitments through a year of political reversal suggests that the drivers have moved from policy to markets. Investors, customers and competitors do not change direction with an election, and their expectations are embedded in procurement requirements and capital costs that persist regardless of the regulatory climate.
That is also why Carbon3 treats insetting as market infrastructure rather than as a compliance tool. A mechanism that depends on regulation is only as durable as the next vote. A mechanism that lets companies finance and evidence real reductions for their own commercial reasons keeps working through the policy cycle.
Originally published on LinkedIn, 23 October 2025.
