In GlobeScan and SustainAbility’s latest survey of sustainability experts, we notice a worrying trend emerging: the sense of urgency to address critical sustainability issues is in decline across the globe.

In fact, the five most urgent issues on the sustainability agenda – climate change, water scarcity, food security, poverty, and biodiversity loss – are all perceived as less urgent challenges than they were in 2009…

Here’s a message for corporate executives: your stakeholders are still searching for transformative sustainability leadership. Only 24% of experts and practitioners believe that corporate leaders advanced the sustainability agenda last year, according to the latest GlobeScan/SustainAbility survey. The rest of us are clamouring for more.

If you were among the 700 million viewers to tune into the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain...