In times of rapid change, leadership is defined not just by how we respond to the present but by what we aspire to in the future. The journey toward a sustainable and resilient future is not without its challenges—yet we must chart it with purpose and foresight.

The pressures of macroeconomic instability, geopolitical tumult, and technological upheaval increasingly require immediate attention—and have the power to distract from our longer-term aspirations. We must maintain a balanced approach—addressing today’s challenges while pushing toward positive, longer-term outcomes.

Sustainability now competes with priorities like energy security, affordability, and the race to deliver value from AI investments. In many ways, sustainability is maturing and now must demonstrate the value we know it can deliver and is delivering. At Autodesk, we strive to achieve that balance and deliver that value to our employees, customers, and the wider ecosystem in which we operate.

As a responsible steward of our own resources, we continue to invest in initiatives that mitigate risk and help our employees to do their best work. Our sustainability commitments support accelerating the transition to a future powered by renewable energy, and we work to embed innovation and collective action in this work. This year, we began to reap the benefits of investing in virtual power purchasing agreements, and we continued to invest in the nascent, yet high-growth, carbon removals industry. Additionally, we are evolving our culture to focus on collaborating as “One Autodesk,” ensuring that our inclusive environment enables our employees to be productive and purposeful.

Our customers are increasingly seeking solutions for carbon measurement, management, and reduction—particularly in Europe, and increasingly in the Asia Pacific region. We continue to deliver on the vision of our industry cloud platforms, enabling seamless data interoperability and connected workflows. This allows our customers to optimize energy and material choices across all phases of project delivery—ultimately delivering more sustainable projects, while improving productivity and efficiency. These moves are demonstrating meaningful business results, and we continue to see growth potential in sustainability.

While generative AI is still in the hype cycle, it is already delivering value to our customers. We are taking active steps to decarbonize the infrastructure driving this growth and to apply AI in ways that support sustainable outcomes. Though we expect challenges as we deliver on the promise of an AI enabled future, our work is guided by thoughtful approaches that balance risks with opportunities.

The wider ecosystem in which we operate is increasingly calling for collective solutions to drive transformative change. We continue to lead, solving industrywide challenges through global coalitions like whole-life carbon calculations and sustainability data availability and access. As the leading Design and Make company, we know that Autodesk has a meaningful role to play, and we will continue to engage in these collective discussions for the benefit of our industries overall.

There are bright spots of opportunity amid this turbulence. Global investments in renewable energy topped $2 trillion last year. Regulatory adoption of climate disclosures, providing investors and the public sector with clear risks and opportunities, continues to advance around the globe. And demand for lower-carbon solutions continues to grow.

We are excited to be on this journey alongside all stakeholders—employees, customers, and investors. We know that by working together and balancing the immediacy of today with our aspirations for tomorrow, we will design and make a better world for all.

Read Autodesk’s FY25 Impact Report