More U.S. and Canadian Companies Are Being Driven to Climate Action Because of Customer Expectations: Survey Shows
More U.S. and Canadian Companies Are Being Driven to Climate Action Because of Customer Expectations: Survey Shows
Head, BMO Climate Institute
Melissa leads BMO’s Climate Institute, a center of expertise accelerating climate solutions by bridging science, technology, policy, and finance. She is a glo…
Senior Advisor, Policy, BMO Climate Institute
Angela leads climate policy and clean energy workstreams within BMO’s Climate Institute. Prior to joining BMO, Angela led renewables and climate policy effort…
Melissa leads BMO’s Climate Institute, a center of expertise accelerating climate solutions by bridging science, technology, policy, and finance. She is a glo…
VIEW FULL PROFILEAngela leads climate policy and clean energy workstreams within BMO’s Climate Institute. Prior to joining BMO, Angela led renewables and climate policy effort…
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Business leaders in the U.S. and Canada are increasingly preparing their companies for the impacts of climate change in order to meet customers' and investors' expectations, according to a survey commissioned by the BMO Climate Institute and conducted in February 2025.*
Respondents cited concerns about environmental impact and achieving corporate sustainability goals as reasons why their companies are taking additional climate actions. Yet it's notable that the share of respondents who cited expectations from customers and investors rose to 38% and 25%, respectively, from 31% and 22% in the previous survey in 2023.
While most respondents say they are concerned about the impacts that both climate change and energy costs will have on their businesses, 88% of respondents also say they are confident that their actions are making a difference, results from the third BMO Climate Institute Business Leaders Survey showed.
Over the next year, customer demand will be an important factor driving companies to take additional steps to adapt to climate change.
Over the next year, customer demand will be an important factor driving companies to take additional steps to adapt to climate change.”
-- Melissa Fifield and Angela Adduci --
Business leaders are increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change, and more of them have a plan or are developing a plan to address those impacts. In addition, more of them have confidence that their actions are making a difference. In the past, we’ve seen growing concern among business leaders, but they didn’t know how to take action and didn’t have confidence that what they were doing was making a difference. This is a positive trend.
Having a plan
Comparing the responses from the past three years' surveys shows that companies with strategies in place to address climate change are steadily growing.
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In 2025, 69% of respondents said they either already have a formal plan in place to address climate change or are developing one.
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In 2023, that figure was 67%, and in 2022 it was 65%.
Only 10% of respondents said that their companies are not taking any steps to address climate change, down from 15% in 2023.
In the latest survey, midsize companies (101-500 employees) were most likely to have a climate change plan in place (43%), followed by larger companies with more than 500 employees (32%) and smaller companies with 101 or fewer employees (31%). Large companies, often with complex supply chains and dedicated sustainability staff, were the most likely to say they are in the process of developing a plan (45%, versus 35% of midsize and 28% of small companies).
Responding to customers
While 42% of respondents say their company is taking steps to address climate change because it's important for the environment—making it the most frequently cited reason—that number has declined from 45% in 2023 and 50% in 2022.
Meanwhile, the influence of customers and investors continues to grow. The share of companies citing customer expectations as a key driver rose to 38% in 2025, up from 31% in 2023, while those pointing to investor expectations increased to 25% from 22%.
More strategic actions
Among companies that are implementing their climate change plans, the most popular action remains using resources that are renewable, compostable and/or recyclable, with 41% of respondents saying they have a strategy in place to make their company more sustainable, up from 37% in 2023.
Among a variety of climate actions, more survey respondents implemented strategies in the following areas:
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Reducing travel
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Tying compensation to climate goals
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Buying carbon credits
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Using renewable resources
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Using zero carbon emitting energy
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Shifting to electric vehicles
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Tracking supply chain emissions
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Disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
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Taking the environment into account when making financial decisions
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Leveraging sustainable finance
Some of the biggest shifts the survey identified were finance-related —with 32% of respondents saying they have a strategy to leverage sustainable finance, up from 21% in 2023. Sustainable finance includes investment products and services that take a company's ESG (environmental, social and governance) commitments into consideration.
There are numerous additional strategies that U.S. and Canadian companies are putting into practice, including tracking and managing supply-chain emissions (30%), and corporate disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions (29%).
A third of respondents say their companies have a building or assets retrofit strategy in place, and another third say their companies are encouraging action on this issue.
Acting with confidence
In this year’s survey, a significant majority of business leaders in the U.S. and Canada (88%) say they are confident that their climate actions are making a difference. That represents an increase from the previous survey's results. U.S. respondents who say they are "very confident" rose to 41% this year from 38% in 2023, and for Canadian respondents, the share who are very confident increased to 30% from 22%.
In this year’s survey, a significant majority of business leaders in the U.S. and Canada (88%) say they are confident that their climate actions are making a difference.”
-- Melissa Fifield and Angela Adduci --
The high degree of confidence among business leaders that their actions are truly making an impact may explain why a significant majority of companies are communicating openly with external stakeholders about their climate actions. Based on the survey, 80% of respondents actively communicate their sustainability plans to the public.
Feedback loop
BMO aims to be our clients’ lead partner in the transition to a net-zero world. That includes identifying important trends. Nearly half of business leaders (45%) in the U.S. and Canada say customer pressures will likely cause their companies to increase actions on climate over the next year.
Market forces are continuing to influence the decision of companies to decarbonize. The drivers include investor sentiment and access to capital, as well as interest of customers and access to markets. Corporate actions in turn reinforce expectations from customers and investors for further efforts to decarbonize. This trend appears to be independent of a changing political or regulatory environment and tied directly to competitive pressures.
*The online survey was conducted by Pollara on behalf of the BMO Climate Institute and interviewed 700 business leaders in the U.S. and Canada from companies with at least five employees. Business leaders are those who are in a senior position at their company and who identify themselves as senior decision makers. Survey research took place February 10 to February 21, 2025.
