It is safe to say that environmental and sustainability (E&S) consultants are confronting a very different set of client priorities and business constraints than they were several years ago.

Sustainability and ESG are rebranding as risk-management and resilience. As many governments across the world step back from a once progressive stance on these topics, consumers and businesses feel an economic pinch, and climate risks intensify.

Environment Analyst’s Future of Sustainability (FoS) survey is crafted to gather data and evidence and probe some of these sentiments, among consultants and clients.

However people may feel about E&S progress, the fundamentals remain – consultancies must protect their bottom lines and understand the dynamics at play across the market.

That is why one of the core sections of the survey gathers E&S consultancy-specific operational and financial data.

The FoS reports (we publish global and UK versions) are designed to be used in conjunction with our market assessments (for which we have global, US and UK versions) to support benchmarking and competitor analysis.

Our reports include data-driven insights, across multiple regions and company types, on employee net change, staff turnover, salary changes, order books, fee rates and profit margins, among many others.

For instance, our 2025 global report, based on survey results from this time last year, found:

• Economic outlook and inflation are increasingly seen as headwinds, with around 50% of respondents expecting their effects to be negative.

• Redundancy concerns remain, as a third of respondents expect job losses in 2025, with an average headcount reduction of 2.5%, amid a weak economy. 

• Super large firms reported the biggest salary increases in the past year. Respondents were less optimistic about future pay growth, with professional services firms showing the strongest expectations.

• Almost 75% of respondents said digital technology innovation/disruption will be a driver for the next five years, the highest of any option and up four places on last year.

• The proliferation of artificial intelligence and cloud-based digital services is now having a bearing on respondents’ growth forecasts. The IT & communications client sector is forecast by respondents to increase with a 7.6% 5-yr CAGR, the highest of any option, and up five places on last year.

We are still welcoming responses to the 2026 survey – your support is greatly appreciated.

Consultants are also encouraged to share the survey with their industry and infrastructure clients, and contacts in the investment and regulatory communities.

A free briefing, analysing the anonymised results of the survey, will be sent to all respondents, providing valuable intelligence to support plans and strategies in the months and years ahead. 

The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete and is open until Tuesday.