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

The 2026 State of Supply Chain Sustainability report, conducted by the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab, reveals that a significant majority of supply chain professionals (83%) recognize the importance of sustainability for long-term business success. However, despite this commitment, the report also highlights that governance and accountability structures are lagging behind.

While 59% of respondents reported increasing commitment to sustainability following recent U.S. policy shifts, these organizations are struggling to implement their sustainability strategies due to tariff uncertainty, with 68% reporting delays, scalebacks, or abandonments of their strategies. Additionally, one-third of these organizations have seen their operational emissions increase as a result of tariff-related disruptions.

The report emphasizes that while sustainability is being measured more broadly and AI is accelerating sustainability efforts, the real challenge is converting commitment into accountability, operational integration into strategic decision-making, and incremental decarbonization into genuine transition. The report suggests that the current obstacles to sustainability efforts include governance, accountability structures, technology infrastructure, and measurement capabilities.

Companies that address these gaps and embed accountability into their structure are more likely to sustain their sustainability commitments.