OEMs and CPGs have conflicting views on which regions impose the strictest sustainability regulations. OEMs cite the EU as the leading driver at 75%, while CPGs prioritize North America at 68%, creating a strategic gap that affects equipment design and compliance planning.
- OEMs identify EU as the top regulator (75% of respondents), positioning it as the de facto global standard-setter for sustainability rules
- CPGs rank North America first (68%) due to their core operating markets, with EU second at 49%
- Asia is underestimated by both groups in surveys but is already shaping equipment decisions through CPG customer demands
- This regulatory perception gap stems from different vantage points: OEMs track global rule-making while CPGs feel regulations most acutely in their primary markets
- OEMs must design equipment for future customer market requirements, not just current regional pressure points
When OEMs and their customers look at the global regulatory map, they see two different pictures, and that gap shapes where each side expects the next requirement to land.
According to PMMI's The Ripple Effect: CPG Sustainability and the New OEM Spec Sheet, OEMs overwhelmingly identify the EU as the leading driver of stringent sustainability requirements, cited by 75% of respondents and far ahead of any other market. That reinforces the EU's position as a de facto standard-setter whose policies tend to cascade into global expectations. North America (38%) and the U.K. (25%) followed as secondary sources of pressure.
End users see it differently. Among the 71% who produce in or export to international markets, North America ranked first at 68%, with the EU in a significant but secondary role at 49%. The U.K. (23%) and Asia (21%) contributed further pressure, while Latin America (15%) and the Middle East/Africa (9%) registered more limited influence.
The divergence comes down to vantage point. OEMs supply equipment across borders and track the market writing the toughest rules. End users feel regulation most acutely in their core operating markets, shifting their perceived center of gravity toward North America.
Asia is where both groups may be underestimating what's ahead. The survey placed Asia fourth of six regions for perceived stringency, but qualitative interviews told a different story. Multiple OEMs cited Asia's sustainability requirements as already shaping their equipment decisions—a far greater impact than the quantitative figures suggest.
“We've started to receive these types of requests both from end users and CPGs, primarily [in] Europe and in Asia,” a sales manager at an OEM says. “That's why we're now making it more of a focus for us as a company and trying to stay ahead of it as much as we possibly can.”
A market manager at a component supplier put the regional shift more bluntly, noting that the strongest laws are emerging in Southern Asia.
The report frames the survey as a snapshot of current regulatory burden. Asia represents forward pressure already arriving through CPG customers operating in those markets. For OEMs, the practical question is whether machines shipped today are built for the requirements of the markets their customers serve tomorrow, not just the region that feels most pressing right now.
SOURCE: 2026 The Ripple Effect: CPG Sustainability and the New OEM Spec Sheet
For more insights from PMMI's Business Intelligence team, find reports, including The Ripple Effect: CPG Sustainability and the New OEM Spec Sheet, Processing State of the Industry,
Innovation for Packaging and Processing OEMs, and From Complexity to Capability at https://www.pmmi.org/business-intelligence.
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