Kyndryl and Microsoft have reported that a large majority of organisations in Singapore are strengthening their sustainability efforts, although many have yet to use artificial intelligence to its full potential. The findings come from the third edition of the Global Sustainability Barometer Study, conducted by Ecosystm, which examines how enterprise leaders worldwide are progressing with environmental goals.
The study shows that 87% of organisations in Singapore maintained or advanced their sustainability initiatives this year. This marks a sharp rise from 60% in 2024 and sits well above the global average of 66%. The shift reflects growing expectations in Singapore’s sustainability landscape as companies prepare for tighter climate-related disclosures under SGX regulations, higher carbon taxes, and clearer guidance on greener digital infrastructure.
Technology has become even more central to these efforts. According to the report, 58% of IT teams in Singapore now drive sustainability goals across the business, up from 40% the year before. Another 63% say their IT and sustainability teams are now strongly aligned, suggesting a closer partnership between technical and environmental decision-makers.
Guat Ling Ang, Managing Director of Kyndryl Singapore, says organisations in the country are using technology more decisively to support sustainability. She notes that rising demands for transparency and real-time reporting are pushing companies to look to AI, automation and trusted data platforms for guidance. She says, “When sustainability is built into core business operations, businesses can gain clearer insights that help them make smarter, data-driven decisions that build resilience and spark innovation.”
More firms embed sustainability into business processes
This year’s Global Sustainability Barometer highlights a broader shift among leading organisations, many of which are now embedding sustainability into core business processes instead of treating it as a separate initiative. These integration-focused organisations are outperforming their peers across regions and industries.
Singapore stands out in this area, with 35% of organisations identified as integration-focused, more than double the global average of 16%. The study also found that 52% of organisations in Singapore view sustainability as a central driver of innovation, cost savings and long-term resilience. Globally, only 17% of respondents expressed this view.
Predictive AI is becoming more widely used. Compared with last year, the number of Singapore organisations using predictive modelling to forecast resource use and emissions has risen from 35% to 63%. Meanwhile, 53% now use similar tools to anticipate climate risks, up from 45%.
Ricardo Davila, GM of Enterprise Partner Solutions at Microsoft, says more than half of leading organisations are now turning to predictive AI to anticipate and address sustainability challenges. He says Microsoft is working across the ecosystem to help organisations turn sustainability into a “data-driven operating capability”.
AI adoption gaps and data challenges remain
The report outlines several challenges that continue to slow progress, particularly around ROI measurement and AI adoption. While 52% of organisations cite difficulties proving ROI and measuring impact, only 35% use AI centrally to guide environmental decisions. The study notes that among organisations which accelerated their sustainability efforts in the past year, 67% did so after building a stronger business case or demonstrating clearer financial outcomes.
Data quality remains a major barrier. Half of the organisations surveyed struggle to collect data from internal systems, and 43% face issues with missing or incomplete information. These gaps in infrastructure limit the value of AI tools that rely heavily on accurate and consistent data inputs.
Many organisations also continue to focus on quick wins such as energy-efficient hardware, improved server utilisation and cloud cost management. Longer-term lifecycle actions, such as extending asset life or adopting sustainable procurement, remain less common.
The study also finds early signs of interest in agentic AI, which can act on insights in real time. At present, only 5% of organisations in Singapore have deployed agentic AI for sustainability, but 23% are piloting or implementing these systems.
Sash Mukherjee, Vice President of Industry Insights at Ecosystm, says predictive and agentic AI together create a “closed-loop system where insight meets action”. She notes that when technology is tightly integrated with business strategy, organisations can embed measurable environmental outcomes into daily operations.
The latest Global Sustainability Barometer Study reflects the views of 1,286 enterprise leaders across 20 countries and nine industries. Conducted between August and September 2025, it aims to show how organisations are moving from planning to progress as sustainability becomes a key competitive advantage.
