Sustainability update June 2026

Strategic investment in CDP transforms it into a commercial entity

Global private equity and credit investment company Permira announced a significant investment in CDP, the “gold standard” worldwide data platform for environmental disclosure. The transaction represents Permira’s first investment under its dedicated Energy Transition strategy, aiming to support CDP’s growth, innovation, and strategic development through capital investments in people, technology, and data services. Under the terms of the deal, CDP will continue to provide environmental data and disclosure services as a commercial enterprise backed by Permira. A separate charitable wing – CDP Foundation – will dedicate itself to advancing science-led environmental disclosure. The restructure is designed to sharpen organisational focus, enhance investment in technology and innovation, and preserve the principles of CDP’s founding mission.

The Permira-CDP transaction has been seen by some as a bellwether for a wider structural shift in the ESG data and corporate sustainability reporting market, in which mission-led disclosure organisations and specialist ratings houses are being absorbed into, or reshaped as, commercially run, technology-heavy platforms. This crystallises a tension the whole sector is now navigating: how to preserve open, science-led public-good baselines, while the commercial half of the business optimises for recurring-revenue platform economics.

The top five ESG data and ratings providers now control almost 75% of the market, making oversight of the data and methodologies these companies use increasingly important. The UK's incoming FCA oversight regime for ESG ratings providers, launched in December 2025, is one early sign that regulators are alert to exactly these risks of conflicts, opacity and market power as the sector commercialises.

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) launches revised net-zero corporate climate framework

After two public consultations, the convening of multiple working groups, and a rigorous round of pilot testing, the SBTi unveiled Version 2.0 of its Corporate Net Zero Standard in June. The revised standard introduces stricter, science-aligned targets, mandatory transition plans for larger companies, and formal recognition for carbon credit use, all of which aim to progress companies from climate ambition to climate action and accountability.

Version 2.0 introduces several key changes to make the approach more practical and easier to use. It recognises that not all companies have the same resources, so it introduces more flexibility for smaller businesses and those in lower-income countries. Companies are still expected to set clear, realistic targets to reduce emissions, especially in the near term, to help guide longer-term transition plans. They should make every effort to cut emissions, be open about any challenges they face, and explain what they are doing to address them. The standard also introduces a new implementation hierarchy: where direct action isn’t feasible, companies can work to reduce emissions in broader shared systems – or “activity pools” – such as electricity and gas grids, supply sheds, or logistics networks that they feed into or purchase from. 

Version 2.0 aims to accelerate net-zero progress through a continuous cycle of assessment and disclosure. It also allows for the use of high-quality carbon credits, but only as a supplement to real emissions reductions, not a replacement.

Elsewhere, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) launched ISO 32212: Net-Zero Transition Planning for Financial Institutions, a new standard created to help banks, insurers, and investors develop and integrate climate transition plans into their activities. It sets out requirements and recommendations for strategic net-zero transition planning by financial institutions, including mobilising and reallocating capital to support decarbonisation and climate adaptation activities in the real economy, and helping institutions to capture emerging opportunities and minimise risks. The standard’s key recommendations reflect increased demand from businesses for practical support to accelerate their net zero programmes.

AI and big tech lobbyists among the biggest spenders as EU industry budgets increase

A European corporate “lobby league” report compiled and published by the Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl revealed that the top industry lobbyists (173 companies and industry bodies with €1 million-plus declared influencing budgets) were collectively spending close to €400 million annually lobbying EU institutions. Since 2020, annual lobbying expenditure in the EU has increased by almost 50%, while the number of registered industry organisations has risen by nearly 30%. Factoring in companies and industry associations below the report’s €1 million budget threshold, corporate spending on EU lobbying would be significantly higher.

Large technology companies, particularly those involved in AI, are among the biggest spenders on lobbying in the EU. Companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta and Qualcomm report significant budgets, with Meta’s spending rising by 135% since 2020. Together, these firms spend tens of millions of euros each year engaging with policymakers on digital regulation issues. Collectively, these companies allocate over €70 million a year to lobbying, with efforts often focused on major EU rules such as GDPR, the AI Act and the Digital Services Act, which aim to improve online safety, transparency and accountability. Some companies have also advocated faster approval processes for building AI data centres, arguing that this is important for supporting continued technological development. In some cases, there have been concerns about limited public access to information, including the environmental impacts of these facilities.

More broadly, discussions about simplifying digital regulation have gained momentum in the EU following recent competitiveness reviews. While some see this as a way to support innovation, others are concerned about the potential impact on existing safeguards and future legislation designed to address issues such as harmful or addictive online design. Critics argue that lobbying bodies have too much access to policymakers and note that EU institutions have previously blocked tobacco lobbyists from influencing policy decisions in the public interest.

Similar policy dialogue can be observed in the US, where large technology companies use a variety of approaches to influence how AI is regulated. These include hiring former regulators into senior roles, working together through industry groups, supporting think tanks that produce research aligned with their views, and advocating for a single national set of rules rather than stricter state-level laws. They also often argue that too much regulation could slow innovation and weaken global competitiveness.

Amazon rainforest sees lowest rate of deforestation in six years

Last year, Brazil recorded the lowest annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon since the monitoring network MapBiomas began tracking the health of the country’s major ecosystems in 2019. Data showed that Brazil lost 985,000 hectares of native vegetation in 2025 (a 20.6% reduction from the previous year), while deforestation across the Amazon fell by 23.5%. The slowing rate of decline was good news for Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth term in office. During his first two presidencies and since his re-election in 2023, Lula has targeted a 0% rate of deforestation in Brazil by 2030. 

MapBiomas acknowledged the increasing effectiveness of Lula’s anti-deforestation policies with tougher enforcement actions and sanctions driving down illegal logging and biodiversity loss across all Brazilian biomes. However, the principal drivers of ongoing nature loss in Brazil highlighted critical economic and environmental challenges. Agriculture was responsible for 99% of the country’s vegetation loss: large areas of forest have been cleared for soybean cultivation, a major factor in agribusiness and export markets, while Brazil’s status as a global beef producer has resulted in significant canopy loss for the creation of pastureland. Additionally, more than half of all recorded vegetation loss in 2025 occurred in Brazil’s Cerrado region, south of the Amazon, the world’s most biodiverse savanna. The Cerrado is home to around 5% of the planet’s plant and animal species and plays a critical role in carbon sequestration and the supply of clean water. Despite the success of Brazil’s policy-driven crackdown on deforestation, MapBiomas estimated the current rate of deforestation in the Amazon at five trees every second.