As we approach 2026, sustainability is starting to function more as a core business discipline rather than a standalone initiative. The public, private, and civic sectors are applying sustainability strategies to improve energy efficiency, reduce operating costs, strengthen supply chain resilience, and manage long-term risk — much of which is supported by advances in circularity, modern energy systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and emerging quantum technologies.
But progress requires coordination, credible data, and solutions designed to scale. These needs are increasingly impacting the priorities of our customers and partners, and as a result, are now firmly on the boardroom agenda. And across sectors, organizations are incorporating sustainability decisions into operational and technology decisions in response to changing market conditions and AI-era innovations. Here are the trends we expect to take shape in the year ahead.
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Sustainability becomes a more structured and strategic business discipline.
Organizations are increasingly treating sustainability as a core business priority — integrating energy efficiency, energy security, operational resilience, and circularity into day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
In parallel, global standards and reporting practices are becoming more aligned — particularly for multinational organizations navigating different rules and requirements. Frameworks such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are converging toward clearer guidance on sustainability-related reporting. While approaches vary by jurisdiction, disclosure is now common practice among large enterprises. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 91 percent of large companies now disclose sustainability-related information.
At Cisco, sustainability is one component of our business strategy — helping to inform how we design products and build partnerships to improve efficiency, circularity, and system performance. This approach is reflected in our investment strategy as well, including support for innovators such as CorPower Ocean, whose wave energy technologies represent promising new models for reliable, clean power generation.
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Circularity advances from recycling to design-led systems thinking.
Circularity is becoming an integral part of design and operations strategy — shaping decisions across material selection, engineering, manufacturing, and product life cycle planning. Organizations are moving beyond traditional end-of-life recycling and embedding circularity earlier in the design process — reducing waste upfront, extending useful life, and keeping materials in use longer. Emerging tools such as digital twins allow teams to model product life cycles, evaluate material impacts, and plan for reuse before anything is built — making circular design more practical to implement and embed into everyday engineering decisions. At Cisco, we are proud to be at the forefront of this shift. We recently reached our goal of embedding Circular Design Principles into 100 percent of new products and packaging, demonstrating how circularity is becoming a core sustainability capability.
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Innovation scales across systems, from secure grid modernization to microgrids.
After years of pilots, innovation is being deployed more broadly across both large-scale infrastructure and localized solutions — from smart buildings to neighborhood-level microgrids. Public sector modernization programs, rising resilience requirements, and the need for secure, reliable energy systems are accelerating this transition.
At Cisco, we are supporting this shift through secure, scalable networking and smart building technologies — along with continued investment in energy-efficient design. Cisco Silicon One, for example, delivers industry-leading performance per watt — helping organizations modernize infrastructure with lower energy consumption and greater capacity. These advances enable utilities and communities alike to deploy energy solutions that are more reliable, resilient, secure, and ready for the future.
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AI continues to reshape the energy equation.
As enterprises scale AI workloads, electricity demand is rising. Data center grid demand in the United States alone is forecast to nearly triple by 2030. AI-optimized servers, which currently represent about 21 percent of data center electricity usage, could account for 44 percent by 2030 — placing new demands on secure and resilient energy infrastructure.
These trends are prompting organizations to rethink efficiency, load management, and the infrastructure required to support AI at scale. Cisco is helping customers prepare for this shift by optimizing networks and operations for greater efficiency, visibility, and security, so that infrastructure is ready to support increasingly complex workloads.
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Quantum moves from concept to preparation.
Quantum computing remains an emerging field, but 2026 marks a shift from curiosity to preparation. Organizations are beginning to plan for quantum-safe networks, next-generation cryptography, and early simulation capabilities that could eventually accelerate advances in materials science, energy systems, and climate modeling.
The priority now is readiness. That means building infrastructure and security practices that can evolve as quantum technologies mature. Industry partnerships, including Cisco’s collaboration with IBM to develop fault-tolerant quantum systems, reflect early steps toward this future as organizations focus on long-term security, resilience, and trust.
Looking ahead, progress across all these areas will depend on deeper collaboration across industries, governments, and communities, and on technology choices designed for longevity, security, and adaptability. We anticipate that more organizations will integrate sustainability considerations into core planning as they modernize infrastructure and prepare for emerging technologies.
The organizations that lead will be those that integrate sustainability into core planning, modernize infrastructure with intention, and prepare today for the technologies that will shape tomorrow.
At Cisco, we remain focused on enabling that future by reducing environmental impact, strengthening resilience, and helping our customers design systems that are secure, adaptable, and built to perform as demands evolve.
