Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy 2025

Emerging green adopters In the World Economic Forum’s equitable transition country archetype framework, emerging green adopters are primarily upper-middle and high-income economies with large legacy industrial sectors, a strong talent base but limited public financing and green innovation capacity. They have a solid regulatory framework and are starting to roll out policies to support the green transition and adopting existing technologies. Many of them are located in Central and Eastern Europe. In these countries, 43% of executives report higher cost of energy and key commodities (37% globally) and 39% report regulatory uncertainty and compliance burden (36% globally) as factors likely to challenge their ability to remain competitive throughout the green transition. Energy and commodity costs concerns are especially pronounced in the heavy industry, infrastructure and circular economy sectors. Regulatory uncertainty and compliance burden is a concern for more than half of the executives in the transport and mobility sectors as well as of those surveyed in Ireland, Poland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while fewer than one-third of executives in Italy and Hungary share the same concern. By contrast, limited investment capacity (24% vs. 31% globally) and supply-chain vulnerabilities (13% vs. 19% globally) are perceived as less binding constraints compared to the global average, although exceptions exist among countries in this archetype. Regarding the impact of the green transition on people and socioeconomics within their countries, 69% of businesses in this group have expressed concerns over accessibility of goods and services for consumers (66% globally).Businesses in these countries may be able to capitalize on relatively lower financing constraints by frontloading capital investments, while governments may be able to capitalize on strong social cohesion and human capital foundations to build public-private partnerships that share transition costs more equitably across society. In Italy, executives identify the higher cost of energy and key commodities as the leading challenge (35%), followed by regulatory concerns and compliance burdens (29%). Supply-chain concerns also standout more prominently than amongst regional peers, with nearly one-fifth of executives citing lack of reliable supply chains for sustainable products as a barrier (14% in Europe). Almost nine out of 10 executives in Italy have expressed concerns that companies in the country will face difficulties to access to financing for green investments, and almost half of them are worried about significant job displacement (significantly above global and peer averages). In Türkiye, executives highlight the higher cost of energy and key commodities (49%) and regulatory uncertainty and compliance burdens (43%) as the most pressing barriers to green competitiveness. With domestic credit supply to the private sector below global average at 44.2% of GDP , finance-related constraints also loom large. Nearly one-third of executives have cited limited investment capacity and access to finance and slow returns on investment as key challenges to remain competitive, while 81% of them fear that companies will face challenges in accessing capital for green investments. Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy 18