Climate change is already taking a toll on business growth. This is no longer about long-term scenarios, but about visible signals in day-to-day operations: higher energy costs, more fragile supply chains, more exposed processes, and customers beginning to demand information that many companies still cannot provide.
The World Economic Forum's Growth in the New Economy report, based on a survey of more than 11,000 executives, makes it clear: climate and demographic pressures are among the main structural drags on growth, and the cost of energy is now the most consistent barrier, ranking among the top three in 73 of the 118 countries analysed.
For years, sustainability was managed as a reputational issue. Relevant, but not decisive in decision-making. That framework is now outdated.
Today, climate directly affects costs, margins, and competitive capacity. The difference no longer lies in acknowledging environmental impact, but in the ability to anticipate it and manage it before it erodes the business.
How climate change slows growth
Climate is no longer just an environmental risk, but a financial one. According to PwC's 29th Annual Global CEO Survey, more than 42% of CEOs acknowledge that their company is at least moderately exposed to significant financial losses from climate change over the next year.
The key lies not only in the impact itself, but in how it materialises within companies. It doesn't show up as one major shock, but as an accumulation of frictions that gradually erode growth.
Higher costs, lower margins
Rising energy prices and the cost of critical raw materials have become one of the main barriers to growth in most economies. It's not just about paying more, it also means losing the ability to compete on price and reducing the margin available for investment.
Less operational stability
Extreme weather events affect suppliers, transport, and resource availability. As a result, supply chains stop being predictable. The outcome? More disruptions, more hidden costs, and reduced planning capacity.
More fragile productivity
Extreme climate conditions are also starting to impact real productivity: fewer effective working hours, lower performance, and greater operational strain.
More complex decision-making
As climate risk comes into play, decisions are no longer purely economic. Where to produce, who to work with, and where to invest increasingly depend on environmental exposure.
Where capital is moving
If climate change is slowing economic growth, the green transition is doing the opposite: concentrating investment and opening up new pathways. According to the World Economic Forum, executives expect frontier technologies and the energy transition to drive growth in most countries, with sectors such as technology, advanced manufacturing, and transition-related services capturing much of the activity in the coming years.
Behind this lies something more important than sustainability itself: a shift in how capital is allocated.
Capital is no longer neutral
An increasing number of investment decisions, from funds to banking, now incorporate criteria related to environmental impact and exposure to climate risk. What does this mean? Companies that are better positioned have greater access to financing.
New competitive rules
The transition doesn't just create opportunities, it also reshapes market rules. It's increasingly common for:
- Clients to require environmental data in order to work with you
- Large companies to push requirements down their supply chains
- Tenders to include impact-related criteria
Sustainability is no longer a differentiator, it's becoming a baseline requirement.
The real gap isn't intent, it's execution
At this point, most companies understand what's happening, but don't know how to operationalise it. In practice, the main blockers tend to be:
- Missing or fragmented data
- Difficulty measuring real impact (especially Scope 3)
- Teams with limited time and resources
- Manual processes that don't scale
- Lack of clarity on where to start
This is where the gap begins to open, between those that manage to turn sustainability into something operational, and those that remain stuck.
What companies that are moving forward are doing differently
The companies turning this into a competitive advantage aren't doing more. They're doing the right things, in the right order.
First, they build a solid data foundation:
- Measure their footprint (corporate and product-level)
- Organise existing data
- Identify what's missing
Then, they automate:
- Data collection
- Calculations
- Reporting
Only then do they integrate that information into real decisions:
- Procurement
- Operations
- Product design
- Customer relationships
This is how sustainability shifts from being a report to becoming a management tool.
At Manglai, we help companies turn sustainability into something operational: from measuring the carbon footprint to reporting, seamlessly and adapted to real business needs.
Because climate change is not a one-off anomaly. It's the new context in which businesses have to grow. And in that context, the difference isn't made by those who understand the problem, but by those who are able to manage it before it starts to materially affect their business.
