The title of today’s newsletter is, of course, ironic. For people working in sustainability, this year will certainly be demanding. We will experience many moments of frustration when political decisions are made not on the basis of facts and scientific knowledge, but depending on which lobby has better access to decision-makers. At the same time, we will increasingly see processes that integrate sustainability into companies’ day-to-day operations. These processes will not necessarily even be called ‘sustainability’; more often we will talk about resilience in its different dimensions: supply-chain resilience, resilience to energy price volatility, and business continuity.
Before I move on to revisiting and expanding on my predictions for 2026, I would like to ask you: what do you expect? Please take the short “Sustainability in 2026” survey.Completing it will take no more than 2–3 minutes, and I will try to summarize the results in the next newsletter.
In the previous newsletter I wrote about these four predictions:
- Regulatory changes
- New materials supporting the application of simplified ESRS
- Electrification and the continued rapid development of renewables
- Voluntary reporting and choice of standards.
What else do I expect in 2026? At a minimum, the following topics:
- Further development of sustainable financing. On the one hand, the changes to the Taxonomy have been completed, because on 8 January 2026 The regulation simplifying Taxonomy reporting was published in the Official Journal of the EU. On the other hand, perhaps the Commission would finally expand the list of activities eligible under the Taxonomy? Some work in this area was done last year by the Platform on Sustainable Finance, but it covered only a few types of activities. And what about food, clothing, footwear, furniture, and many others that have a significant impact on nature? Some companies operating in these sectors are trying to minimize their negative impact and could do so faster and more effectively if they could obtain sustainable financing for this purpose. Today, when their activities remain outside the scope of the Taxonomy, they do not have the right incentives to accelerate their transition efforts.
Sustainable finance in 2026 will also mean discussions on the revision of SFDR and the practical implementation of the EBA guidelines on ESG risks. The EBA guidelines are an example of a clear trend: moving sustainability from the corporate level down to the more concrete level of individual activities or assets. After all, a bank granting a loan to build a new production facility is not interested in the overall risk profile of the entire company, but in the specific risks related to that very facility.
- Do we want healthy food, clean water and air in the EU, or not? This question matters in the context of the proposals submitted by the European Commission in the Environmental Omnibus. One of the EU’s achievements is that we live longer and in better health than, for example, US citizens (in the EU we have a longer life expectancy, fewer obese people, lower infant mortality, and a lower incidence of cancer). How can we streamline environmental regulations so that they do not constrain European industry (e.g., launching new investments) while maintaining protection of our health and quality of life?
- The relationship between defence and sustainability. Establishing this relationship is a task for people working in sustainability. It involves a number of questions for which there are currently no stable, clear-cut answers. Can investments in expanding defence industry capacity be sustainable? Is defence a different aspect of sustainable development that should be considered outside the traditional areas of the environment, human rights and governance? Or perhaps there is no relationship at all and there is no point in definitional gymnastics trying to connect defence with sustainability?
- Sustainable Artificial Intelligence. Okay, various AI-based tools are already used by nearly all companies. But what does that mean for sustainability? How does the use of AI change the environmental footprint of our companies? How do we measure it and minimize it? And what about the impact on people? How should we implement AI tools so that they build employees’ competencies rather than reduce them? And how do we take care of people who lose their jobs as a result of process automation? These are just some of the questions we will be asking as we consider the short- and long-term impact of AI on how companies operate.
These are four topics that, together with those from mid-December, seem the most interesting to me for the year that is beginning. I am also very curious about your perspective—please share it in the survey.
To close the first edition of the newsletter in 2026, I would like to share a few updates:
- Palau Project, whose strategic partner in Poland is MATERIALITY, has published a report on 12 sustainability advisory firms, with whom it cooperates. I invite you to read 😊
- January is packed with interesting sustainability events. SEG has launched the Challenges of annual reportingseries, during which as many as 7 webinars will cover ESG topics (15 January; 4, 11, 18 and 25 February; and 11 and 18 March). Already on 13 January 2026, at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the Instrat Foundation will present its latest report The Road to Net Zero: Between Declarations and Reality – Climate Transformation of Polish Companies.And the following week, January 21, 2026 Palau Project is hosting a discussion Panel on ESG Trends for 2026: signals, shifts, insights. I encourage you to join all these events! You can preview the list of future events at which MATERIALITY will be present on our website.
- During the reporting season you probably have more detailed questions about various requirements contained in the ESRS. To address them, our ESRS Q&A base will be the most helpful. Access to the ESRS Q&A database can be purchased at this link.
P.S. The next edition of the newsletter, due to the winter break, will be on 2 February.
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