State of Supply Chain Sustainability Report finds corporate commitment at record high, but governance lags behind

Corporate enthusiasm for greener supply chains has hit a new peak, but the internal structures needed to deliver on it are lagging, according to the 2026 State of Supply Chain Sustainability Report from the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab, as described by MIT News. The survey of 1,810 professionals in 91 countries found 83 percent consider sustainability important or very important to long-term success, the highest in the report's seven years. Yet 68 percent say tariff uncertainty forced them to delay, shrink or drop sustainability plans, and over eight in 10 respondents in North America, Europe and Asia say geopolitical conflict is undermining their climate efforts.

Governance is the central weakness identified. Among companies with public goals, 51 percent have a formal cross-functional sustainability team and 33 percent have board-level oversight. Firms with such teams report sustainability frequently or always shapes decisions 57 percent of the time, against 13 percent where one function holds responsibility.

AI results are mixed. Among North American organizations, 78 percent use it in sustainability work, but only 53 percent of mature agentic AI users report lower total greenhouse gas emissions, while 29 percent report increases. In freight, 43 percent of fleets still run mostly or entirely on conventional diesel, and battery-electric trucks are at scale in 60 percent of European companies versus 36 percent in North America.

Collaboration on indirect Scope 3 emissions is a bright spot, with joint supplier programs rising from 31 to 58 percent in a year. Lead author Sreedevi Rajagopalan says the harder task now is turning commitment into accountability.