Carbon Removal, Corporate Targets, and Supply Chain Gaps: Where ESG Stands in 2025

The corporate sustainability landscape in 2025 is a study in contrasts. On one side, landmark deals in sustainable finance and early achievement of emissions targets signal genuine momentum. On the other, persistent gaps in supply chain accountability remind us that ambition and execution are still far from perfectly aligned. This week’s developments offer a revealing snapshot of where ESG — environmental, social, and governance commitments — actually stands for global business.

JPMorgan’s Carbon Casting Bet: A New Chapter for Sustainable Finance

The headline deal of the week comes from an unlikely corner of sustainable finance: JPMorgan Chase has agreed to purchase 60,000 metric tons of carbon removals from Graphyte over a ten-year period. Graphyte’s method, known as carbon casting, converts agricultural and forestry biomass waste into dense, stable cubes that are then stored underground — effectively locking carbon out of the atmosphere for centuries.

This is not a carbon offset in the traditional, often-criticised sense. Carbon casting is a form of engineered carbon removal, a category that scientists and policymakers increasingly view as essential to meeting net-zero targets. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has consistently noted that carbon dioxide removal will be necessary alongside emissions reductions to limit warming to 1.5°C.

From a European perspective, this deal is significant. The EU’s Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), currently being finalised, is designed to create a credible market for exactly these kinds of high-durability removals. JPMorgan’s investment signals that private capital is beginning to flow toward durable removal solutions — a trend European institutions and green finance advocates have been pushing for. The question now is whether European banks and asset managers will follow suit, or cede this emerging market to American competitors.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has reaffirmed that its carbon removal programme remains active, pushing back on reports of a pause. The company’s chief sustainability officer publicly committed to continued support — a statement that carries weight for investor confidence in tech-sector ESG strategies broadly.

Who Is Hitting Targets — and Who Is Falling Short

Not all ESG news this week points in the same direction. The contrast between Mastercard and Apple’s supply chain illustrates the uneven terrain of corporate responsibility in 2025.

Mastercard has achieved its 2025 emissions reduction targets ahead of schedule, covering both direct operations (Scope 1) and indirect energy use (Scope 2). For a global payments company with a sprawling digital infrastructure, this is a meaningful milestone — and a demonstration that ambitious targets, when backed by operational discipline, can be met.

The picture is more complicated for Apple’s supply chain. While Apple suppliers have increased their use of renewable energy, emissions reductions have stalled since 2021. This is a critical distinction: switching to green energy is necessary but not sufficient. Absolute emissions reductions require deeper interventions — process redesign, material substitution, and supplier engagement — that are harder and slower to achieve. For a company that has made green business central to its brand identity, the supply chain gap is a reputational and regulatory risk, particularly as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) pushes companies to account for Scope 3 emissions across their value chains.

Supply Chain Innovation and the Circular Economy Push

Beyond the headline numbers, two developments point to where the next wave of corporate responsibility innovation is taking shape: the supply chain and the circular economy.

Thrive Market, a US-based sustainable retailer, has launched a Climate Action Working Group bringing together over 1,000 brands to collectively measure and reduce their carbon and plastic footprints. The initiative offers shared tools and frameworks — a model that could be particularly relevant for smaller European brands that lack the resources to build sustainability programmes independently.

• Shared measurement tools lower the barrier to entry for SMEs
• Collective action creates market signals that individual brands cannot generate alone
• Plastic footprint tracking aligns with the EU’s incoming packaging and plastics regulations

This kind of collaborative, sector-wide approach to the circular economy reflects a growing understanding that sustainability cannot be a purely competitive differentiator — at some level, it requires industry-wide coordination.

What This Means for European Businesses and Policymakers

The week’s developments carry clear implications for European stakeholders. The JPMorgan–Graphyte deal underscores the urgency of finalising the EU’s carbon removal certification rules — without a credible framework, European companies risk being locked out of a rapidly maturing market. The Apple supply chain story is a preview of the scrutiny that CSRD will bring to Scope 3 emissions across European value chains. And the Thrive Market initiative offers a model for how collaborative tools can help brands — including European ones — meet rising regulatory and consumer expectations.

Key takeaway: Corporate sustainability in 2025 is no longer about pledges — it is about verifiable, measurable progress across the entire value chain. The gap between leaders and laggards is widening, and the regulatory and financial incentives to close it are growing stronger by the quarter.