CDP published the CDP Corporate Health Check 2026, produced with Oliver Wyman, finding that a small cohort of companies is translating environmental performance into measurable financial outcomes. Based on disclosures from more than 10,000 companies, the report says 15% reached “Leadership” level in at least one theme (climate, water or forests), cutting emissions at an average 4% compound annual growth rate versus 1% for lower-performing companies, and collectively identifying USD 218 billion in financial opportunities over the past 12 months. Climate was the most common theme for Leadership (13% of companies), followed by water (11%) and forests (8%). The analysis also reports stronger market capitalisation growth since 2022 for highest-performing companies in several sectors, including financial services (30% versus 19%), infrastructure (19% versus 17%) and apparel (16% versus 2%). Regionally, Japan led on climate Leadership (22%), ahead of the United Kingdom (17%), the European Union (16%) and India (11%), while the United States was at 5%; Japan was also the only country with more than 10% of companies leading across all three themes and its leaders captured USD 76 billion in new climate-related opportunities over the past year. The report highlights common practices among leaders including governance, transition planning aligned to 1.5°C, value-chain engagement and incentives, noting that all climate leaders and 78% of water and forest leaders link executive pay to environmental outcomes, and it quantifies reported physical environmental risks at USD 1.47 trillion against disclosed physical adaptation investment of USD 84.5 billion in 2025.

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