Kyndryl, in collaboration with Microsoft, has released the India findings from the 2025 Global Sustainability Barometer Study, revealing that sustainability remains a top strategic priority for Indian organisations, even as many struggle to convert intent into measurable business outcomes.
The study, conducted by analyst firm Ecosystm, shows that 69% of Indian organisations now rank sustainability as a top strategic priority. Nearly three-quarters, or 76%, are already using digital solutions to improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact across their operations. Despite this progress, the findings suggest that ambition continues to outpace execution.
While 47% of organisations report proactive or consistent environmental sustainability initiatives, only 15% have embedded sustainability as a core driver of innovation, cost optimisation, and long-term resilience. The study points to this gap as evidence of fragmented efforts, highlighting the need for more integrated approaches that align strategy, technology, and governance.
“Indian organisations are realising that sustainability requirements are more complex than initially thought,” said Girija Mukund, Director – Global Citizenship and Sustainability, Kyndryl India and ASEAN. “This has led to deeper collaboration between operations, finance and compliance teams for achieving sustainability goals and reporting. Companies need to embed AI, trusted data and governance into the decision-making process to translate these actions into measurable outcomes.”
The report also underscores uneven adoption of AI in sustainability initiatives. While 58% of Indian enterprises report strong alignment between technology and sustainability teams, only 31% currently use AI centrally to advance environmental sustainability. Adoption of agentic AI remains nascent, with just 9% of organisations piloting or implementing it for sustainability use cases and only 1% having fully deployed such systems. This indicates that autonomous, AI-driven sustainability execution is still largely exploratory in India, even as it presents an opportunity for enterprises to leapfrog into more advanced, data-led practices.
“The 2025 Global Sustainability Barometer Study shows that more than half of leading organisations now use predictive AI to anticipate and act on sustainability challenges, rather than just track and analyse them,” said Ricardo Davila, General Manager, Enterprise Partner Solutions, Microsoft. “We’re proud to partner across the ecosystem to help every organisation turn sustainability into a data-driven operating capability.”
The India findings also reveal that clearer returns on investment are becoming a key driver of momentum. Around 58% of organisations have accelerated sustainability initiatives after seeing clearer ROI, while 49% still cite the lack of measurable returns as the biggest barrier to progress. Data, too, remains underutilised. Although 74% of enterprises collect environmental metrics centrally, only 34% actively use this data to inform decisions and optimise performance, suggesting a strong emphasis on reporting but limited operational impact.
Another notable insight is the role of employees in shaping sustainability agendas. In India, employees are the most influential voice driving sustainability action, cited by 62% of respondents, ahead of investors and shareholders at 56% and customers at 54%. This contrasts with global trends, where employees rank fourth.
“The results show that Indian organisations are at a critical inflection point,” said Sash Mukherjee, Vice President, Industry Insights, Ecosystm. “Predictive and AI-driven insights can help close the gap between strategy and execution, enabling organisations to move beyond reporting toward continuous optimisation and long-term resilience.”
Now in its third edition, the Global Sustainability Barometer Study draws on insights from 1,286 enterprise leaders across 20 countries and nine industry groups. Commissioned by Kyndryl and Microsoft, the study examines how strategy, integration, and technology are reshaping sustainability from a compliance-driven exercise into a source of competitive advantage.
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