Accelerating Value Chain Decarbonization for Corporate Growth Perspectives from Asia 2025

Asia’s increasingly prominent yet pragmatic progress, in the context of policy uncertainties and geopolitical tension, proves its pivotal role in global corporate climate action. The region is evolving from passively addressing compliance costs as upstream suppliers to leading solution providers and advocates for climate-aligned and low-carbon economies and business models. These shifting roles are also reflected in Asian businesses’ target-setting and disclosing activities. As of the 2024 CDP disclosure cycle, companies across Asia have significantly increased their environmental transparency, with 8,449 companies reporting on climate change. Asia’s major developed and emerging economies drive its environmental disclosure landscape. Greater China leads the region by a wide margin, with 3,711 companies disclosing on climate change, 1,552 on water and 558 on forests in 2024. In contrast, while the lower absolute figures in South-East Asia are partly attributable to the region’s smaller economic and corporate base, they also indicate that the practice of formal environmental disclosure has not yet permeated as deeply into the corporate mainstream as it has in Northeast Asia.13 This disparity underscores that, beyond the sheer size of the economy, factors such as regulatory frameworks, investor pressure and the maturity of corporate sustainability strategies play a critical role in driving transparency. Therefore, South-East Asia represents a significant opportunity for growth in both corporate sustainability practices and the governance systems that support them.Evolving roles for Asian businesses: from followers to front-runners TABLE 1 Dimensions From To Key drivers Corporate governanceLimited disclosure Emerging leader in climate governanceRegulatory and disclosure pressure, policy enablement, board-level incentives, stakeholder expectations Market dynamics Made green for export System shaper defining its own marketsSteady policy signals and increasing regulatory levers, rapid growth in demand for low-carbon products, supply chain upgrading and localization Technology and innovationPassive follower Proactive tech leaders Policy tools supporting R&D and technology transfer, scale and localization of innovation, ecosystem and cross-industry collaboration, resource and supply chain advantage Finance and investmentDependent on external investment and financing productsInnovator in sustainable finance and local capital marketsRecognition of climate as a financial risk, development and alignment of taxonomy, innovation in financial instruments and public- private de-risking partnerships Accelerating Value Chain Decarbonization for Corporate Growth: Perspectives from Asia 7