How Climate, Water And AI Are Changing The Way Companies Work
How A Changing Climate Is Reshaping The Way Businesses Plan And Grow.
The Resilience Pulse turns A World In Balance 2026: The Resilience Reset, published by the Capgemini Research Institute in September 2026, into ready-to-teach lessons. Learners explore 13 findings on climate disruption, water stress, resource security, sustainability spending and AI, with page references to the report so every figure can be checked. Each finding comes with a note on what the numbers do and do not show, because the report surveys executives' views rather than measuring results.
The tool also explains EmpCo, the EU law on green claims that has applied since 27 September 2026, in plain English. Seven snapshots give learners invented and real claims to test fairly.
The Resilience Pulse
Select, Classify, Prove
The Resilience Pulse
A World In Balance 2026 surveyed 2,100 executives and 6,500 consumers on how climate disruption, water stress, resource shortages and AI are changing sustainability. This tool turns the report into lessons for ages 11 to 18: what it found, how far to trust each number, and seven ways to act on it.
Built from A World In Balance 2026: The Resilience Reset and its infographic (Capgemini Research Institute, September 2026), with every item mapped to GreenComp (JRC, 2022) and SDG targets. Page numbers refer to the web version of the report. Checked against the report on 2 October 2026.
13Findings
7Activities
12Competences
0SDG Targets
Read The LabelsThis is a survey by a consultancy, not official data.Survey Finding items are what executives at organisations with revenue above $1 billion told Capgemini. Consumer Survey items are what 6,500 consumers said. Reported Example items are company cases the report cites from company and press sources. Capgemini View marks the report's own conclusions and recommendations; Capgemini sells sustainability services. 169to1 Mapping marks our own links to GreenComp and the SDGs. EU Law marks the EmpCo Snapshots, our plain-English summaries of the EU law on green claims.
Set Up For Your Class
Three choices tailor the tool. Your choice of learners changes the discussion questions and activity adaptations throughout. Adult Learners covers teachers, parents, colleagues and community groups, and matches page 002 of every lesson sheet. Your role suggests a first move. Where you teach sets the currency, the curriculum names and the local rules on green claims, on screen and in print.
Which Learners Will Take Part?
What Is Your Role?
Where Are You Teaching?
Changes currency, curriculum names and the local rules on green claims. The report's findings and the EU law stay the same.
Is This Report Teachable?
Ages 11 To 14
Use the concrete parts: heatwaves, low rivers, water use, repair and recycling, and AI's energy and water. Skip percentages of revenue and Scope 3 until the key words are in place.
Ages 15 To 18
The whole report works, especially the gap between ambition and action, the values or value debate, and the AI trade-off. It is also a strong text for critical reading of surveys.
Read It Critically
Most figures are what executives at large organisations believe or report. The report notes this itself for AI emissions (page 75). The Check The Claim activity builds this habit.
Why GreenComp And The SDGs
Every finding and activity in this tool is tagged with the GreenComp competences it builds and the SDG targets it relates to, so the report can sit inside existing sustainability, geography and citizenship planning. Select any chip to see the links.
Teacher's And Student's Notes
Two-page guides for running the tool with a class. Both are also on the Pack tab.
Terms Used In This Tool
The Report In Brief
The fifth edition of Capgemini's annual A World In Balance study calls this year's shift "the resilience reset": organisations are refocusing sustainability on surviving and growing through climate disruption, resource shortages and conflict, while still cutting emissions.
Why It Matters Now
Disruption Is Normal
87% of organisations report climate-related supply chain disruptions, and western Europe recorded its hottest June and July on record in 2026.
Report, page 15.
Water Is The Next Limit
61% of executives believe water scarcity will constrain business growth more than energy over the next five years.
Report, page 30.
Progress Has Slipped
The report's sustainability maturity index fell from 111 in 2025 to 105 in 2026, the second fall in a row, even as spending rose.
Report, pages 61 to 62.
The Five Big Messages
The report's five chapters. Open each one to see the key figures, what the report recommends and the findings in this tool that go deeper.
The Report's Nine Actions
Build Resilience, Growth And Trust
Shift sustainability from compliance and reporting to a source of resilience and business value.
Build resilience against increasingly frequent climate disruption.
Strengthen resource security.
Use climate tech to speed up results.
Communicate measurable outcomes to build consumer confidence.
Report, Figure 35, page 94. Capgemini View
Harness AI
Build intelligent and agentic operations for sustainability.
Speed up sustainable product and service innovation with AI.
Set up a sustainable AI control plane to govern AI at scale.
Build the right data foundations.
Report, Figure 35, page 94. Capgemini View
The New EU Rules On Green Claims
Since 27 September 2026 an EU law called EmpCo has controlled the green claims businesses make to shoppers. It links closely to the report's findings on trust, net zero, repair, brands, labels and AI. Each snapshot below explains one part of the law in plain English and gives learners three claims to test.
EU Law Plain-English summaries of Directive (EU) 2024/825 and the European Commission's Questions And Answers (June 2026). Not legal advice.
How The Study Was Done
1
2,100 ExecutivesDirector level and above, at 701 organisations with annual revenue above $1 billion, across 13 countries and 12 sectors. Half work in corporate functions, half in value chain functions (page 105).
2
June To July 2026The online survey ran over two months. Some questions went only to subsets, such as 1,722 executives outside financial services and the public sector (page 44).
3
6,500 ConsumersAdults over 18 in the same 13 countries (page 105).
4
In-Depth InterviewsWith senior sustainability and business leaders. Page 12 says 14 interviews; page 105 says 15.
5
A Maturity IndexProgress scored against 2022, set at 100. Page 61 says it uses 93 questions; page 114 says nearly 80 statements.
6
Directional, Not DefinitiveThe report says its findings reflect respondents' views and are intended to give directional guidance (page 105).
What The Report Found
Thirteen findings in plain English, each with the evidence and page numbers, a Read It Carefully note, the chapter it comes from and a question for your learners.
Cases From The Report
The report illustrates its findings with company and research examples, drawn from the organisations' own announcements and press coverage listed in its endnotes. They show what is possible; they were not checked by the survey. Use them as starting points and check the original source before quoting.
Test Real Claims Fairly
Three of these cases contain green claims you can test against the EU's new rules on green claims. The EmpCo Snapshot shows how to do it fairly: ask what evidence a claim would need, not whether a company has broken the law.
Source: A World In Balance 2026, Capgemini Research Institute, with page numbers for each case. Reported Example
Classroom Activities
Seven lesson designs that put the report's evidence to work. Each shows what you need, the steps, an adaptation for your chosen age group and the competences it builds. Add any of them to a Lesson Pack to print.
GreenComp Competences
GreenComp has 12 competences in four areas. Select a competence to read what it means in plain English and see every finding and activity in this tool that builds it.
Competence tags on findings and activities are 169to1 mapping, not a Capgemini or EU classification.
SDG Targets
This view shows the SDG targets linked to items in this tool. Select a target to see what connects to it. A solid chip means a direct link, a dashed chip a supporting one.
Target links and plain-English wording are by 169to1. 169to1 is independent and has no UN affiliation.
Get Involved
Places to check the facts, find data for your own area, and take learners' ideas beyond the classroom.
Your Lesson Pack
Findings and activities you have added, printed as lesson sheets: page 001 for learners, page 002 for adult learners.
Your pack is empty. Use Add To Lesson Pack on any finding or activity.
Every lesson has two A4 pages. Page 001 is for school learners. Page 002 is for adult learners, including teachers preparing the lesson and adult groups in workplaces and communities. Printing opens the sheets on their own page. Use the Print button at the top, or on a phone use Share and then Print to save a PDF.
Teacher's And Student's Notes
Teacher's Notes And Checklist
Two pages: what the tool is, learning objectives, key words, the nine tabs, a timed hour and an optional second hour.
Student's Notes And Checklist
Two pages for each group to record choices and reasons, tab by tab, with a final checklist.
Select, Classify, Prove
