A new report from Achilles reveals that global supply chains made measurable progress in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and compliance in 2025, even as geopolitical instability and climate-related disruptions intensified worldwide.
Drawing on risk intelligence from more than 150,000 suppliers across over 40 countries, the data highlights a steady year-on-year improvement in ESG maturity compared with 2024. Environmental performance emerged as the fastest-growing dimension, with gains of approximately 5–10% across Europe, Latin America, and North America. Governance scores also improved modestly—particularly in Europe and Latin America—while social performance rose by 2–4% globally, reflecting increasing standardisation in labour practices and health and safety measures.
Compliance levels remained consistently high across all regions, fluctuating by only around ±1%, indicating that regulatory adherence is now firmly embedded in most supply chains.
Regional Trends Show Mixed Progress
Europe and Asia-Pacific led overall ESG performance, while Latin America stood out as the fastest-improving region, driven by strong gains in governance and financial stability. However, progress was not uniform.
Europe’s environmental score rose from 49 in 2024 to 52 in 2025, marking a 5.8% increase, while Latin America saw a 7% rise from 43 to 46. In contrast, Asia-Pacific experienced a notable decline of 20–25%, with its environmental score dropping from 78 to 59, largely due to external environmental pressures rather than internal governance shortcomings. North America posted only marginal environmental improvements and remained below the global average.
Social performance remained the most stable ESG pillar, with global scores averaging 77–78. Latin America and North America led improvements in this category, while Europe continued to close the gap.
Rising Disruptions Offset Gains
Despite these improvements, the report underscores a sharp increase in supply chain risk. The volume of potential business disruption alerts surged by approximately 33% year-on-year, driven by escalating geopolitical tensions, trade restrictions, and climate-related hazards such as floods, droughts, and extreme weather events.
Operational and cybersecurity risk scores also showed modest improvements, reflecting better adoption of certifications, stronger internal controls, enhanced employee training, and more structured incident management across supplier networks.
Resilience Requires Real-Time Risk Monitoring
Luis Olivié, President and Board Member at Achilles, emphasized that while ESG progress is encouraging, it is no longer sufficient on its own.
“Resilience today is no longer determined by supplier fundamentals alone, but by the ability to continuously anticipate, monitor, and respond to evolving risks,” he said. “Organisations must move beyond periodic assessments toward continuous risk intelligence.”
The findings point to a broader shift in global supply chain strategy: companies are increasingly pairing ESG compliance with real-time monitoring and data-driven insights to navigate a volatile operating environment.
A More Mature but More Exposed Supply Base
Overall, the report concludes that global supply chains in 2025 are more mature and better aligned with ESG and compliance standards than in the previous year. However, growing exposure to external shocks means that organisations must adopt more agile, intelligence-led approaches to risk management.
As geopolitical uncertainty and climate pressures continue to rise, businesses that combine strong ESG performance with continuous visibility into supplier risk will be better positioned to maintain stability, protect reputation, and meet regulatory expectations.
