Sustainability Research at a Crossroads: The ARCS Legacy and the Road Ahead
At its 17th Annual Research Conference hosted by HEC Paris, the ARCS community reaffirmed its commitment to business-driven sustainability. With 150+ participants, 60 top-tier papers, and timely plenaries, ARCS celebrated its legacy of interdisciplinary excellence—while setting sights on the sustainability challenges ahead. The event strengthened its mission: advancing science-based solutions for a better world.
A Legacy of Excellence: ARCS' Growing Intellectual Footprint
Over the last 17 years, the Alliance on Research for Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) has played a transformative role in legitimizing sustainability as a central pillar of business scholarship. No longer a fringe topic, corporate sustainability is now embedded in the strategic, financial, and operational decisions of leading organizations. This evolution is reflected not only in academic discourse but also in the pressing realities facing global business and society.
As Caroline Flammer, President of ARCS, noted during the conference:
“The founding members of ARCS have done wonderful work over 17 years establishing sustainability research as a legitimate field. We're now standing on the shoulders of giants in well-established corporate sustainability research.”
Held at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, this year’s conference was a moment of pride and reflection. Scholars from across disciplines—law, economics, sociology, political science, operations, and strategy—convened to explore some of the most urgent and multifaceted issues of our time. With over 200 submissions and a highly selective review process involving triple-blind peer evaluations, only 60 papers made it to the final program, underscoring the exceptional quality of the research on display.
Topics spanned the spectrum of current sustainability concerns, including (just to name a few topics):
• Strategic CSR orchestration, CSR gap and firm value
• ESG investing and green finance
• Corporate climate lobbying and environmental justice
• CEO activism
• How do Firms Respond to Climate Risks?
• Supply Chain Relationship Resilience at the Base of the Pyramid
• Labor market dynamics in the green transition
• Assessing the Costs of Industrial Decarbonization
• Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Political Clientelism
• Business responses to human rights and tax fairness issues
Rodolphe Durand, Founder of the HEC Sustainability & Organizations Institute and ARCS Board Director, emphasized the significance of HEC Paris serving as host:
“HEC's role as host is significant for two key reasons. First, as an institutional member of ARCS, we're representing the full scope of our S&O Institute's research—from qualitative studies to strategic management. Second, this gathering creates invaluable opportunities for our students to engage with leading academics worldwide through the PhD workshop, where 25 papers receive intensive reviewer feedback. By hosting this conference, HEC Paris becomes a central hub connecting sustainability research energy from Asia, India, the US, and across Europe—putting us on the global map as a key player in this field.”
Indeed, the PhD Development Session, held on the eve of the main conference, was a highlight. It offered emerging scholars a rare platform to present early-stage work, benefit from in-depth peer and faculty review, and begin building the intellectual relationships that will shape the field’s future.
The Power of Disciplinary Diversity and Global Perspectives
A defining strength of ARCS lies in its radical interdisciplinarity. From organizational theory to operations management, and from qualitative fieldwork to econometric modeling, the conference exemplified the richness that only a truly open academic community can offer.
This diversity is not just methodological but also geographical. The Global South panel spotlighted the limitations of one-size-fits-all frameworks in a rapidly changing, multipolar world. Sylvie Lemmet, French Ambassador for the Environment, underscored the need for more sophisticated forms of global governance that go beyond frameworks designed in the Global North. Bouchra Rahmouni of UMP6 added: “There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The governance structures that work in Morocco are not the same as those in China or Brazil.”This sentiment echoed throughout the conference. Whether addressing biodiversity loss, climate finance, or labor conditions, scholars emphasized that effective sustainability solutions must be co-constructed—not imposed. They must be grounded in local institutions, values, and capacities.
These reflections mark a visible and welcome shift in ARCS: a turn away from Western-centric theory and casework toward more globally inclusive and context-sensitive research. As a result, the community is not only expanding what we study, but also rethinking how and why we conduct sustainability research.
Bridging Research and Regulation: Insights from the EU Panel
Sustainability is not only an academic domain—it is an urgent policy arena. The conference’s second plenary, focused on European sustainability regulation, brought together lawyer Elsa Savourey, Sabine Lochmann (CEO of Ascend), and Alexis Krycève (Founder & CEO of HAATCH), to discuss the future of regulatory frameworks like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).
Key insights from the panel included:
• Sustainability is now core to business: No longer confined to marketing or CSR departments, sustainability now resides within finance, risk, and executive leadership.
• Voluntary compliance is rising: Over 50% of firms that have published CSRD reports did so before they were mandated, showing strong proactive engagement.
• Regulatory weakening is a risk: Political pushback, such as the Omnibus Law, threatens to exclude nearly 80% of companies from compliance obligations.
• Dual visions are emerging: One sees sustainability as a burden; the other as essential for long-term competitiveness and resilience.
See also European Companies Strongly Support CSRD Directive According to a new Study
The panel emphasized that ARCS scholars have a crucial role in shaping this debate through evidence-based research and actionable policy insights. As one panelist noted, weakening the regulatory framework risks creating a two-speed economy—where only the most advanced firms lead the transition, leaving smaller and more vulnerable players behind.
Challenges Ahead: Toward Bold and Systems-Oriented Research
Despite the progress, a sobering thread ran through many discussions: sustainability research is at a crossroads. As Grace Augustine from the University of Bath, recipient of the ARCS Emerging Sustainability Award, noted, recent political shifts—particularly in the US—are undermining funding for research on climate change and social equity. During her acceptance speech, she raised critical questions about the role of scholars in shaping the future.
"We have been a backward-looking, descriptive field," Augustine argued. "But can we—and should we—become more normative? Should we develop theories that are future-oriented, imagination-focused, and values-based?"
These questions don't have easy answers—but they must be asked. And ARCS, with its diversity of scholars from different geographical backgrounds and pioneering spirit, is uniquely positioned to lead this intellectual shift.
"We feel a sense of urgency to act. Many of us are deeply worried, for good reason. In certain contexts, our research is now directly under attack. Many of us seek impact, but feel constrained in various ways. What we're mainly evaluated on—publishing in top journals—is extremely difficult to achieve, takes years, and in the end often only reaches other academics."
Caroline Flammer echoed this sentiment, advocating for a systems-focused approach that moves beyond the firm level to engage with political structures, systemic risks, and planetary boundaries.
"We need a bold shift in mindset—moving beyond publishing for publication's sake to address real-world challenges. We must question our theories' underlying assumptions. For example, we assume governments act in society's best interest, but do they really? We identify ideal climate policies but rarely consider how to actually implement them or what companies can do to drive policy change."
We also need more global perspectives. Many current theories are built on 19th and 20th century case studies from the US and Western Europe, but business operates differently across various contexts worldwide. We need to explore these diverse environments rather than just working within existing theoretical frameworks."
Both scholars called on the academic community to pursue their efforts for an 'engaged' research that resonates even more with business practices and that can truly drive transformation.
ARCS as a Constellation of Hope and Courage
The Seventeenth Annual ARCS Research Conference was not just a celebration of past accomplishments—it was a clarion call for the future. In a world increasingly defined by environmental volatility, social fragmentation, and political polarization, the role of corporate sustainability research is more critical—and more contested—than ever.
And yet, hope persists. It lives in the bold research sketches of PhD students. In the nuanced analyses of established scholars. In the lively debates over regulation, justice, and innovation. In the humility with which experts from across the globe exchange ideas and imagine new paradigms.
ARCS is more than a conference. It is a community of engaged thinkers--meaning engaged with practitioners and regulators, engaged in the reality of the pressing challenges that businesses face, a laboratory of new ideas, and a movement of impact-driven research. If this year’s conference is any indication, the ARCS community is ready—not only to understand the world, but to foster a world that is more sustainable and inclusive for the future generations to come.
