MIT Finds 83% Back Supply Chain Sustainability as 68% Delay Plans Over Tariffs
Updated
Updated · MIT News · Oct 15
MIT Finds 83% Back Supply Chain Sustainability as 68% Delay Plans Over Tariffs
2 articles · Updated · MIT News · Oct 15
Summary
83% of 1,810 surveyed supply-chain professionals said sustainability is important to long-term business success, a seven-year high, yet 68% said tariff uncertainty has forced delays, cutbacks or abandonment of sustainability strategies.
59% said recent U.S. policy shifts increased their commitment, but nearly one-third reported tariff-related disruptions have already raised operational emissions, and more than eight in 10 across North America, Europe and Asia said geopolitical conflict is weakening climate action.
51% of companies with public sustainability goals have a formal cross-functional team and only 33% assign board-level oversight, even though firms with such teams embed sustainability in decisions 57% of the time versus 13% when it sits in one function.
78% of North American organizations use AI in sustainability efforts and 87% of adopters report benefits, but only 53% of mature agentic AI users saw total greenhouse-gas emissions fall; in advanced automated warehouses, 78% reported higher energy use.
Scope 3 collaboration was a bright spot: joint supplier decarbonization programs jumped to 58% from 31%, while the report says governance, accountability and measurement—not corporate intent—remain the main barriers to lasting supply-chain transition.