U.S. Firms Adapt to Shifting Sustainability Requirements
Companies seek flexible controls to comply with mixed mandates and achieve demonstrable business results, ISG Provider Lens® report says
STAMFORD, Conn., October 16, 2026--U.S. enterprises are increasingly adopting digital sustainability solutions that lower energy costs, improve asset performance or protect market access as a fragmented regulatory landscape and rising AI demand reshape investment priorities, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm.
The 2026 ISG Provider Lens® Digital Sustainability report for the U.S. finds that the federal retreat from climate disclosure and clean energy support in 2025 has reduced national regulatory momentum, but state and international rules still apply to many large U.S. businesses. The resulting regulatory environment varies by location, sector and global exposure, forcing enterprises to carefully craft strategies for compliance and competitiveness.
"Digital sustainability in the U.S. continues to progress when it addresses the same pressures facing operations: high energy costs, constrained capacity and fragile supply chains," said Kathy Rudy, partner, ISG Data, Analytics and Technology Office. "Companies are concentrating investments where environmental progress also strengthens reliability, resilience and market access."
Multi-state and multinational companies are rationalizing obligations into common control models that support California, federal, European Union and product-level requirements. This approach reduces the need for separate systems tailored to different regulatory regimes. It also helps organizations adapt as disclosure and product rules evolve. Buyers want transparent methodologies and measurable savings, with shared ownership of sustainability programs across finance, operations, procurement, engineering, IT and risk teams.
Enterprises in asset-intensive industries are expanding their use of AI, IoT and digital twins to improve energy use, maintenance and reliability. Some use these tools to optimize asset performance while balancing concerns over energy supply, consumer prices and biodiversity. Manufacturing, retail and consumer goods companies are implementing resource efficiency and traceability measures to address supply-chain disruptions.
As growing use of AI raises energy consumption concerns, CIOs and CTOs are improving AI efficiency through GreenOps methodologies, workload placement and model and data optimization. Data-center power, cooling and architecture choices can lower infrastructure costs and environmental effects. Organizations are seeking better use of existing compute capacity amid grid interconnection delays, transmission limits and local resistance to data-center construction. To sustainably expand AI, companies need investment governance that evaluates the energy, carbon, resilience and financial effects of new investments before committing capital, ISG says.