The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all aspects of normal life, with enormous health, economic and social costs. It has also brought home the urgency of a decisive shift to sustainability.

In Sustainability Trends Report 2020, we show that in the wake of the pandemic, many long-term trends are accelerating and some new ones are emerging. We track the implications of these new dynamics for action on the climate and inequality. We also highlight the vital role of partnerships in raising ambition on sustainability, building on the experience of collective responses to COVID-19.

Companies have a critical role to play in building back better. As in previous editions of this report, we highlight many of the exciting innovations in the world of sustainability. We examine how the world of business is contributing to the recovery and to building an inclusive, sustainable economy. We also underscore why a change in investor ethos is necessary to find a sustainable pathway out of this crisis.

The pandemic is revealing new insights into our shared sustainability challenges. The interlocking nature of our climate, ecological and social crises. The vulnerability and resilience of our societies to shocks. The depth and nature of economic and social inequalities. Our dependence on institutions and cooperation for prosperity and stability, at a time when mutual trust has collapsed. This is a profoundly difficult time for many people.

As investors focused on long-term value creation and sustainability, we need to lift our eyes to the horizon. The effects of COVID-19 will be with us for some time, but severe health impacts might be stemmed sooner with an effective vaccine or treatment. There is no vaccine for the climate crisis. Addressing racial, gender, LGBTQ and economic inequality likewise requires both urgent and sustained actions across multiple fronts.

The acceleration of sustainability trends this year provides important glimpses into the future: how we live, how we work, where we want to live and what we want, and need, to consume. Beyond the short-term impacts, there is a sense of new political and social realities forming that provide a generational opportunity. We believe the action and momentum triggered by events this year will prove a powerful catalyst for sustainability.

Could some companies and governments waver in their commitments to sustainability, blown off course by the short-term impact of the pandemic and the economic crisis? We find some areas where this is certainly a risk. Yet, for many organisations, the lesson from recent months is that sustainability and resilience are two sides of the same coin.

The pandemic has revealed companies’ commitment to sustainability in a way that is difficult to see in normal times. Many businesses have stepped up, working with others to find solutions with unprecedented speed and taking a broad view of stakeholder value when it mattered most. This redefining of what is possible must now be taken into other shared challenges for our societies, not least for climate.

Everything now depends on our collective efforts to ensure a safe, resilient and sustainable recovery. Strikingly, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, greenhouse gas emissions need to fall by 7.6% per year for the next decade; more than the drop expected in 2020 due to COVID-19. Clearly, this means pulling all available levers. Yet, there is also a new sense of perspective. The net investment required for climate action is much smaller than the economic cost of the pandemic, and unlike the pandemic, it represents a major economic and social opportunity. The costs of inaction on climate change meanwhile, are so large they are difficult to comprehend.

Governments must chart the course for a green recovery through their industrial policies and green deals. The EU, for instance, sees its Green Deal as the “motor of the recovery”. Yet so far, there are few concrete green investment plans in place despite the wealth of opportunities. There is also too little of the global cooperation that was so crucial in pulling the world out of the depths of the global recession a decade ago.

We try to situate this moment in a historical perspective. Tremendous strides have been made in recent decades in tackling extreme poverty, improving human health and developing a raft of clean energy technologies and affordable digital solutions. The task now is to ensure these gains are protected, accelerated and felt by all.

This year, the report is organised under six chapters: Health; Energy; Buildings & Mobility; Economy & Finance; Consumer; and Trade & Travel. Before this, we take a brief look at the broader State of Sustainability.

You can read each chapter in this report report in sequence from top to bottom. You can also move from one chapter to another by clicking the arrows to the right and left of the screen. It is often possible to find information on a related topic elsewhere in the report – look out for the magnifying glass symbol.