Planning for 2026: A guide for sustainability leaders

Sustainability leaders preparing for 2026 can expect a year of technological leaps, regulatory convergence, and energy challenges.

AI is speeding up analysis, disclosures, and decarbonization, but needs to be applied responsibly. Clean power and carbon markets continue to mature, rewarding early planning and diversified strategies. With ISSB emerging as a global baseline—and local rules building on it—teams can standardize data, streamline reporting, and focus on measurable decarbonization.

This guide translates expert insight from Watershed and Deloitte into practical steps you can apply immediately to set priorities, allocate budget, and accelerate results.

What you’ll learn:

• How to align to the ISSB baseline, meet local requirements, and operationalize scope 3 and assurance in one workflow.
• Where AI can accelerate reporting and reductions—and how to govern it with transparency, safeguards, and right-sized models.
• How to plan clean power and carbon procurement with the right timing, diversification, and readiness for GHGP/SBTi changes.