2025 has been a mammoth year for pensions policy, and there have been lots of initiatives we have been part of to help drive forward outcomes for people, planet and pensions. It has also been a year of environmental, social and governance (ESG) backlash, conflict and instability. We address this and discuss the challenges we’ve faced over the year. We then look ahead to 2026 – a year likely to be dominated by AI developments, more pensions policy and a continued focus on systems thinking!