HSBC: How is Sustainability Emerging as a Business Driver?

Are we entering a new era of business growth?

HSBC has released its Sustainability Pulse Survey 2025, which demonstrates that businesses and institutional investors view sustainability as a key strategic consideration.

The survey states that 95% of corporates view sustainability as a commercial opportunity and 99% say they expect it to drive differentiated competitive advantage across the next three years.

Inside the pulse survey

The Pulse Survey gathers insights from 1,651 senior business decision-makers and 500 global institutional investors across 12 markets.

Its data “suggests a business environment where sustainability is becoming a more integral component of strategic planning,” according to the bank.

HSBC’s survey explores four key areas as a strategic consideration:

• Sustainability as a strategic priority
• Variations in sector and regional approaches
• Convergence of climate technology and innovation
• Alignment of institutional capital and corporate transition objectives.

The survey found that 96% of institutional investors believe that climate and environmental issues will be an important element of their organisation’s investment strategy within three years. 

According to 72% of corporates, transition will be very important to long-term business resilience.

The survey found that 90% of businesses are actively integrating climate technology into their transition strategies.

Roughly 79% of institutional investors identify a positive correlation between sustainability and long-term financial performance, while 73% report growth in assets aligned with sustainable criteria. 

Corporate investment in transition is projected to grow significantly, with the share of companies allocating more than 10% of CAPEX expected to double from 14% today to 29% within the next three years.  

HSBC’s findings show the strength of investor confidence when it comes to sustainability.

“Today sustainability strategy has become business strategy: defining value creation, competitive advantage and risk management, as demonstrated by our survey,” says Natalie Blyth, Global Head of Sustainable Finance and Transition at HSBC.

“This critical pivot is why we’ve launched our new ambitious strategy to support our clients with their transition.”

Sustainability investments

Businesses are now investing more than 10% and the proportion of companies doing so is expected to rise from 14% to 29%.

Many clients have identified an urgent need to scale the technology underpinning climate transition, which has become a top strategic priority.

Climate tech is a broad and evolving field that goes beyond clean energy to include areas such as agricultural technology (agtech) and nature tech.

Businesses are increasingly aware of its potential to transform business models and strengthen wider business ecosystems.

Investment in these areas can help drive the clean energy transition, improve resource efficiency and build resilience to physical risk within today’s commercial realities.

HSBC is committed to supporting further investment in climate tech by helping to finance and scale these innovations to deliver greater impact for clients.

Corporates are also treating sustainability as an integral part of value creation.

The growing use of data is making it easier to measure return on investment, from renewable energy initiatives through to full lifecycle assessments and the use of digital twins.

This is improving efficiency and supporting stronger commercial outcomes.

At the same time, businesses are increasingly required to demonstrate their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to participate in commercial supply chains.

Transparency on environmental impact is no longer optional but a key requirement for securing capital, managing risk and supporting long-term business success.

As a result, there is rising demand to simplify carbon reporting so operators can maintain a competitive advantage.

What are the concluding points?

The survey finds that companies and investors alike are aligning when it comes to the importance of the climate transition and how it can drive competitive advantage and long-term resilience.

The survey states: “From a regional perspective, markets such as Singapore, Indonesia and India, are now engaging more deeply with ambitious climate transition strategies, while those that are already more established on their transition journey, like the UK, continue to drive toward their targets.”

This momentum is driven by growing awareness of technological opportunities and strong capital allocation, reflecting a clear commitment to sustainable investment. 

Although some financial barriers remain, rising demand for scalable climate technologies is creating major opportunities for innovation and funding, enabling companies to embed transition strategies at the heart of business transformation and growth.

“Sustainability is becoming an increasingly integral part of long-term business strategy, serving as a driver of resilience, innovation and growth,” says Julian Wentzel, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, HSBC.

“HSBC’s well placed to support businesses with their climate ambitions, whether it’s connecting climate technology solutions between startups and large corporate players, or financing the critical infrastructure needed to realise our customers’ ambitions. 

“We offer global support, from seed to scale, at any stage of their transition.”