2025: A year of Pivots, Pullbacks, and Purpose
As the year draws to a close, the Marshall Sustainability team has taken a moment to reflect on 2025. Defined by pivots, shifts, and reframes, 2025 has been a year of helping our clients navigate uncertainty as the political and regulatory landscape pulled us in multiple directions. For every new frontier explored, there was often a counterweight. From litigation and regulatory delays to external skepticism, we were reminded that progress is rarely linear.
An overarching trend this year was the tension between rigor and resistance. On one side, there was a drive for greater accountability, transparency, and measurable impact. On the other hand, companies and regulators faced pushback from stakeholders, litigation, and detractors who were challenging the very frameworks we were helping to implement. Even as the EU has emerged as a global influencer, its leadership in sustainability and governance is now being directly challenged by large businesses and the US government, underscoring how dynamic and politically charged the landscape has become.
As we reflect on the year, several key themes emerged from our work with clients. These themes highlight where we focused our efforts, the challenges we navigated, and the opportunities we helped our clients receive.
Navigating a shifting Political and Regulatory Landscape
This year, our work has increasingly focused on helping clients anticipate and respond to political and regulatory shifts.
Political Culture Change:
As political culture evolved, we reframed board-level language, uncovered new funding partners, and realigned strategies to meet changing expectations.
Communications were continuously refined to remain relevant, defensible, and in step with emerging realities.
Regulation:
We developed readiness plans for CSRD, EUDR, and Digital Product Passport requirements, pivoting quickly when the rules were delayed or rewritten.
We supported public consultation responses for updates to the GHG Protocol and SBTi as they sought to increase their rigour
We prepared for California’s SB253 Climate Risk disclosure (even as it stalled in litigation)
We built GHG inventories, CDP disclosures, and reporting for SB261.
We completed a TFND nature risk assessment to help our clients identify dependencies, risks, and opportunities across nature-related impacts.
Clarifying Purpose and Strategy
More than just meeting compliance, our focus was on helping companies weave sustainability into the very fabric of their business.
We worked with clients to shape brand purpose and growth strategies that position sustainability as a core function, not a peripheral initiative.
We developed storytelling toolkits and case study narratives to link strategic pillars to concrete actions, fostering shared understanding and alignment across teams.
We reimagined corporate purpose ahead of CEO roundtables and executive alignment sessions, equipping leaders to advocate for sustainability with both clarity and conviction.
Testing that Resonates with Consumers
Consumer insights remained a cornerstone of our work. By delving into perceptions and adoption patterns, we helped clients shape communications that not only inform but also instill confidence and foster trust.
We explored how messaging about environmental innovations in the dairy value chain resonated with audiences.
We assessed openness to adopting emerging heating and cooling technologies.
Supporting Certification, Impact Reporting, and Standards Shifts
We guided companies through the evolving landscape of certifications and reporting frameworks, ensuring that commitments were not only credible but also tangible and actionable.
We supported several clients who pursued B Corp Certification, fast-tracking recertification in anticipation of shifting standards.
Our client Teams received support navigating EcoVadis assessments, impact reporting, and the operational demands of sustainability content management.
Looking Ahead
As the year draws to a close, one truth stands out. Progress seldom follows a straight line. Curiosity, a willingness to question assumptions, and nimble adaptability have proven essential in navigating an ever-shifting landscape. While 2025 called for flexibility at every turn, it also underscored the power of clarity, focus, and purpose in driving real, lasting impact.
We extend our warmest wishes to clients, partners, and colleagues for a restful and restorative holiday season. Here’s to 2026, a year we hope to be full of insight, decisive action, and continued collaboration. Keep an eye out for our next blog post, where we’ll unveil our key predictions for the year ahead.
