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Pamela Chasek is a political science professor at Manhattan College where she chairs the political science department. She said that,“In 2022, there will be considerable pressure on both governments and the private sector to continue efforts to decarbonize operations, while making the necessary efforts to adapt their operations to an ever-warming planet.

“Governments cannot combat climate change and limit global warming to 1.5°C without the private sector playing its part. There will definitely be increased pressure on business and corporations in 2022,” she said.

If 2021 was the year when ESG (short for Environmental, Social, and Governance) went mainstream, 2022 will be the year that innovations and innovators propel it forward, say members of the Fast Company Impact Council—an invitation-only collective of leaders from a range of industries. Members say a number of business, regulatory, and cultural factors will motivate companies to keep advancing an agenda that places sustainability, social good, and inclusion on equal footing with profitability and growth. Edited excerpts follow:

This article was adapted from Climate Tech Weekly, a free newsletter focused on climate technologies.

At this time last year, I was preparing for a low-key New Year’s Eve, feeling apprehensive yet optimistic about the prospects for climate tech in 2021. Since then, I have been disheartened by the firm grip the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have on everyday life. But I’ve been lifted by the surge of support for technologies intended to address and mitigate humankind’s climate-messing impact on the planet.

Studies from organisations including NYU Stern School of Business show time and time again that sustainability goes hand in hand with better business performance, so it makes sense to talk about your startup’s sustainability efforts. But how best to do this?

Whether you’re at the start of a sustainability journey or already away down the road, here are five simple strategies to power up your sustainability communications.

Impact in emerging markets in 2022: Seizing the digital transformation to drive inclusive and sustainable growth. If the pandemic had a silver lining in emerging markets, it was as a super-spreader of small business digitization. The online trend, which extended to informal businesses and gig workers, is in turn expanding access to working capital, growth financing and other financial services. Traditional sources of capital like banks, development finance institutions and microfinance have largely failed to fill the $5 trillion annual financing gap for informal and small businesses in emerging markets. Enterprise tech startups are using the troves of data they’re collecting to build their own customized small-business financial services (see, “How tech innovation is bridging gaps in small business financing in emerging markets“). Such embedded finance gives customers “who aren’t able to access traditional financial services a way to grow their businesses, protect their livelihoods, and save for their futures,” Accion Venture Lab’s Amee Parbhoo told ImpactAlpha. In 2022, we’ll be on the hunt for tech providers that can prove they’re having a material positive impact on revenues, income and jobs.