Environmental progress turned into billion-dollar gains: Climate leaders unlocked $218 billion in the last 12 months

Industry leaders defy global headwinds

A select group of companies is defying global headwinds and turning environmental leadership into billion-dollar gains. The second edition of CDP’s Corporate Health Check, released last week, reveals that 15% of global businesses are embedding climate and nature considerations into core decision-making. The rewards for this climate-focused cohort are emissions cuts at four times the pace of peers, and the unlocking of $218 billion in new opportunities over the past year[i].

The Corporate Health Check draws on disclosure data from more than 10,000 companies and this year’s edition moves beyond environmental progress monitoring to explore and quantify the financial benefits associated with environmental leadership. It finds that despite recent geopolitical tensions and a turbulent economic backdrop; corporate environmental leadership is trending upwards.

CDP assigned assessed companies one of four levels: Level 1: Disclosure, 2: Awareness, 3: Management, and 4: Leadership, based on their disclosure through CDP in 2025. The study found that 15% of companies achieved a ‘Leadership’ level in at least one thematic area, either climate (13%), water (11%), or forests (8%). This small, but growing, collection of businesses demonstrates that companies can deliver measurable environmental progress whilst navigating headwinds.

Clear financial benefits for high performers

The research identifies clear financial benefits for climate leaders, finding that high performing companies have seen stronger market capitalization growth since 2022, compared to those at other levels, including financial services (30% v/s 19%), infrastructure (19% v/s 17%) and apparel (16% v/s 2%).

The report also found a widening gap between geographic regions, with Japan coming out on top as the strongest global performer. Here almost a quarter (22%) of companies achieved Leadership status on climate, outpacing the UK (17%), EU (16%), and India (11%). China and Southeast Asia were placed at 8%, Brazil at 7%, and the United States at just 5%. Notably, Japan is also the only country where more than 10% of companies lead across all three environmental themes. Japanese leaders also captured $76 billion in climate related opportunities in the past year.

Adaptation emerges as ‘the next frontier for value’

ZCA’s recent top trends for 2026 research identified adaptation as a major theme and area for corporate action over the coming 12 months. COP30 saw adaptation rise up the agenda as countries called for a tripling of adaptation finance by 2035, with $310 billion required annually. Given much of this will fall to the private sector, ZCA argues that companies need to act now to prioritise adaptation to safeguard resource access, protect infrastructure, and maintain competitiveness. Solutions will often be nature-based, requiring companies to build expertise in ecosystem restoration, water management, and biodiversity strategies.

CDP’s research supports this as a core trend: companies reporting through CDP have identified $1.47 trillion in physical environmental risks, with over a quarter materializing in the near term, underscoring the scale of the resilience challenge ahead. However, only $84.5 billion in physical adaptation investment was disclosed in 2025, highlighting a significant opportunity for companies to strengthen preparedness, protect value and accelerate long-term performance.

Sherry Madera, Chief Executive Officer at CDP said: “Climate and nature loss are no longer distant risks - they are already reshaping markets, supply chains and investment decisions. The 2026 Corporate Health Check shows that companies applying earth-positive economics are turning environmental data into better business outcomes. By measuring and managing these pressures, leaders are allocating capital more effectively, strengthening resilience and unlocking tangible financial value, even amid global uncertainty”[ii].

Rising cost of delay

The evidence is clear: companies that act early and decisively on climate and nature are seeing financial gains, but as other recent research finds, failure to act is likely to spell significant financial consequences. As we reported earlier this month, analysis from the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and think-tank 2° Investing Initiative has warned that for every year companies delay meaningful climate action, an estimated $150 billion in extra costs could be added to the financial sector[iii].

Using asset-level data, they captured the impact of the climate transition on the profitability of publicly listed companies in four climate-critical sectors. These were power generation, oil and gas, coal production, and the automotive industry. The researchers found that even an early transition in 2026 is likely to be disorderly and expensive, with the overall cost to the financial sector amounting to $2.2 trillion[iv]. On top of this, for every year the transition is delayed, financial institutions could accrue additional costs of $150 billion annually, due to changes in market and credit risk.

The report authors caution that because the study concentrates on publicly listed companies in four specific sectors, the $150 billion annual penalty should be treated as a lower‑bound estimate. When non-public firms and other parts of the economy are included, the true cost of delay could be far larger.