In boardrooms and earnings calls around the world, there’s growing talk of sustainability losing momentum. Political pushback, regulatory uncertainty and margin pressure have prompted some companies to quietly scale back their commitments. A recent SEC disclosure review reported by the Financial Times found that 20% of the 50 largest US firms have reduced or delayed their goals. Others are holding firm, while toning down the messaging.

Behind the pullback lies a deeper issue: what some call prudence is risk aversion disguised as strategy. Yet the environmental and social pressures that drive disruption haven’t gone away. Climate volatility, resource scarcity and biodiversity loss continue to reshape operations and supply chains. Neither hope nor delay is a viable response.

The public sees this. In a recent US survey, 69% of adults said major companies aren’t doing enough to address climate change. Gen Z is even more demanding. Up to 20% say they’ve rejected jobs or left employers due to misalignment with their values.

Creating Advantage From Constraint

While some retreat, others are moving forward. Quietly, deliberately, they are rethinking how their businesses create value in a resource-constrained world.

Kinetic Consulting’s FrontRunners Research has found that these leaders share a common trait: the ability to turn constraint into a catalyst for innovation. They use sustainability as a platform to reimagine products, processes and business models. While others scale back, they leap forward, seizing economic, climate and societal turbulence as an opportunity to develop technological innovations that represent competitive moats.

They are creating value others can’t see.

And AI is now accelerating the potential for value creation. Until recently, many sustainability efforts required radical tradeoffs. Lower emissions often meant higher costs. Better materials meant slower delivery. Improved quality meant more waste. Smart and strategic use of AI is unlocking new ways to resolve the very tensions that have slowed progress:

• As a predictive engine, AI identifies disruption risks and resource bottlenecks before they occur
• As a design partner, it explores thousands of product configurations and material options, revealing solutions humans alone might miss
• As a real-time optimizer, it balances cost, quality and environmental impact dynamically

The result is a step change in how leaders pursue innovation. More of what customers want. Less of what the planet can’t sustain. Some companies are showing what’s possible when AI is used not just for reporting or efficiency, but as an engine for innovation.

• Carbon Re – Decarbonizing Cement and Improving Margins Cement production accounts for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Until recently, lowering that footprint meant expensive retrofits or slower throughput. Carbon Re’s AI platform flips that logic. Its kiln simulations optimize temperature and material mixes, reducing fuel use without hardware changes. Plants save up to 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ and US $2–6 million in energy costs per year.
• Autodesk – Lighter, Smarter, Lower Impact Autodesk’s generative design tools help manufacturers build lighter components with less material. Airbus used them to redesign an aircraft partition that is 45% lighter, representing a meaningful drop in fuel consumption and saving nearly 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year across A320 fleets.
• CropX – Better Yields, Lower Resource Use In agriculture, the tradeoff between yields and sustainability has long been a challenge. CropX’s AI-powered soil sensors and cloud analytics help farmers cut water and fertilizer use by 20–40% while increasing yields by up to 10%.

These aren’t marginal gains. They are blueprint shifts.

What Bold Leadership Looks Like Now

This is a moment that calls for leadership. Pulling back may feel prudent, but history shows that the most valuable moves are made when others hesitate.

Today’s most forward-looking companies aren’t just maintaining their sustainability commitments. They’re using them to spark the next wave of innovation. With AI as a design partner, they are resolving trade-offs once thought inevitable – between cost and carbon, performance and planet.

At Kinetic, we help leaders turn those tensions into tangible advantage. We bring together business pragmatism, innovation expertise and organisational experience to support companies ready to move from incremental improvement to transformational impact. When fully embraced, constraint becomes the starting point for innovation.

And that is where we work best. If you’re exploring how sustainability can drive – not drain – value in your business, we’d love to help you chart the way.