Members have consistently told us that in a changing world and business environment, they need clear business cases for the sustainability initiatives and investments they want to propose to their corporate leaders and P&L- responsible business leaders. Those business cases must be grounded in materiality to show where it matters over the short, medium and long term.

Standards, materiality and value-chain data are not the point of this theme. They are the raw material of the business case. Every deliverable serves one question: What does this mean for our decisions, and for our value?

Embed Sustainability in Decision-Making promotes the frameworks, insight, and capabilities leaders need to integrate sustainability into corporate decision-making. It connects sustainability with business drivers and regulatory expectations across strategy, governance, finance, and operations while integrating and building on work related to climate, nature measurement and social considerations. In 2027, WBCSD and its members will use this unique platform to shape and align the standards and frameworks required for credible performance. This will include greater value-chain visibility and better ways for companies to assess material impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies. Together, these efforts will help build a more holistic materiality mindset geared toward managing risks and creating value.

The theme elevates the work of the Action Themes focused on climate, land use, circularity and physical risk into a wider corporate context across all sectors and value chains. It is designed for leaders in sustainability, finance, legal, procurement and other business functions and will help them produce credible, consistent business case information for enterprise-wide decisions. Importantly, it will amplify the potential value of sustainability and help them bring material sustainability issues into discussions with boards and senior executives.

Through WBCSD’s Connectivity Forum, members sit at one table with the bodies that set standards for reporting and assurance of sustainability-related information worldwide. Together, they identify key areas of friction in implementation between jurisdictions, calling out complexity and pushing for global alignment. Where specific value-chain or sector issues arise, the work connects with the Communities. Emerging issues such as impact measurement, anticipated financial effects, assurance readiness and the contribution of intangible assets to value creation are explored through roundtables and, where needed, guidance notes.

Our work will focus on two additional levers for turning regulatory requirements into strategic value. First, members will explore how to embed a credible approach to materiality that meets regulatory and investor expectations. Second, they will examine how a materiality mindset can guide the expansion of reporting boundaries and improve visibility into impacts, risks and dependencies across upstream and downstream value chains. The resulting improved value-chain visibility, coupled with a robust view of materiality, will help companies compare strategic options, understand trade-offs and co-benefits, and make better funding and investment decisions. For example: Questions may exist about whether to invest in flood protection for a key supplier region or resource. Materiality plus value-chain visibility turn that exercise in guesswork into a comparable business case.

Together, this work will create a stronger foundation for credible, integrated decision-making. And it will help members translate sustainability performance into competitiveness and enterprise value. What members build here - the evidence, the valuation logic and the credible data - is what they take to capital markets through Realize the Value of Sustainability.