Drive Sustainability at Scale

The Iran conflict has flipped the economics of sustainability. Renewable PPAs and fertilizer optimization have crossed into negative-cost territory; the green option is now cheaper than the fossil-fuel baseline.

rPET and EV fleets have reached a tipping point. Oil-driven cost inflation has erased the "green premium" on recycled packaging and electric trucks for the first time in industry history.

Zero-deforestation is the one casualty. Shipping reroutes and war-risk insurance have made identity-preserved supply chains six times more expensive, putting net-zero agricultural commitments under serious strain.

- Full traceability on your emissions data: change logs, validation checks, and an interactive programme tracker give teams the context and control to manage footprints end-to-end

- Customer-ready PCF reports in minutes: generate framework-compliant PACT, PEF, and ISO 14067 documents directly from your product footprint data, no manual reformatting required

- FIrst look at Evie: Altruistiq's AI sustainability analyst, built into the platform to help teams clean data, explore workbooks, and get answers grounded in their domain

The regulatory pincer is real — California and New York together effectively capture any meaningful American business; federal rollbacks at the SEC level are largely beside the point.

New York's macro track casts a wide net — just $1M in state revenue qualifies as "meaningful business," pulling in companies far beyond their HQ location, including whole conglomerates via subsidiaries.

New York is more durable than CSRD — single-state control, a high revenue threshold, a narrow emissions-only focus, and a built-in citizen lawsuit mechanism make it far harder to roll back than EU legislation.

Scope 3 data requests will cascade downstream — once large companies are forced to disclose, expect pressure to ripple through supply chains, pushing smaller suppliers to improve data quality too.

Slow and steady beats fast and backlashed — the DEI rollback is a cautionary tale; legislation that moves too far too fast triggers reactions that leave things worse than before.

‍

The sustainability function is being absorbed, not eliminated — most of the work is migrating into procurement, supply chain, and finance, not disappearing entirely.

Be antifragile, not just resilient — build hard, transferable skills (data, insights, stakeholder management) that are most valuable precisely when things go wrong.

In corporates, follow the margin — high-margin companies in pharma, personal care, flavours, and fragrances are the most committed and resourced to sustain the function long term.

Consulting is shrinking, software is consolidating — both are riskier bets right now; wait for the software market to consolidate before picking a side.

Nonprofits may be a hidden opportunity — after two bruising years, many have reset and stabilised; the need for honest brokers bridging corporations and governments isn't going away.

Small packaging is the real enemy : sachets and multi-layer films are nearly impossible to collect or recycle economically; PET bottles are actually one of the good guys.

Most waste never gets collected : 2.3 billion people have no collection, making infrastructure the most urgent fix before recycling technology even matters.

Waste-to-energy locks you in : oversized plants create perverse incentives to keep generating waste and undermine recycling efforts.

Technically recyclable ≠ actually recycled : without end-market demand and minimum recycled content regulation, the business case for recycling simply doesn't exist.

Design for the consumer : the simplest thing brands can do is make packaging that people instinctively know how to recycle

Sustainability is fragmenting : Scope 3 moves to procurement, reporting moves to finance, and the CSO role is quietly being demoted.

2026 is still a down year : budgets, headcount, and ambition continue to shrink; don't expect a rebound before 2027.

PCFs are the new baseline : product carbon footprints are becoming standard practice and entering procurement negotiations as competitive leverage.

2030 targets are quietly dying : most were unrealistic from the start; expect accelerating retrenchment through 2029.

Vendor collapse incoming : most sustainability software and consultancy providers are in distress; consolidations and closures will be disruptive for those who rely on them.

Performance beats purpose: mainstream consumers want the product to work first; sustainability is a bonus, not a draw.

Safety is the new sustainability: most consumers hear "sustainability" and think "is this safe for my family?"

The sugar pill works: embed sustainability into the product, drop it from the pitch.

One checkbox is enough — consumers don't want depth, just reassurance that it's not a zero.

Message for the market: safety sells in North America; environmental credentials resonate in Europe and Japan.

‍

EPR is coming fast — municipalities need the money, consumers care about waste, and the political backlash that hit ESG is largely bypassing EPR.

Compliance will be a nightmare — dozens of schemes, different rules, different PROs; a major consolidation opportunity for whoever solves it first.

PRO conflicts of interest are a ticking scandal — waste management companies running waste-reduction schemes is a problem waiting for an exposé.

The real prize is circularity, not compliance — getting packaging back to the original producer to close the loop is where the biggest value lies.

Durable packaging + EPR = less waste into the system — fewer top-ups of virgin material needed if you design for return from the start.