Best Practices: Developing A Corporate Climate Transition Plan

Executive Summary

Developing a climate transition plan is an important step for organizations to act on their climate commitments. Organizations such as CDP, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and the UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) have published general and sector-specific guidance for transition planning. However, most firms have yet to start the process. Developing a plan is not an easy task; many businesses have questions about how to do so and what a good plan looks like. Verdantix conducted interviews with corporate sustainability leaders and vendors supporting transition planning, reviewed published transition plans and synthesized existing guidance to identify best practices. We found that transition planning is an iterative process that involves people and information from all parts of an organization. Transition plans build on and support strategic planning and should holistically address and disclose net zero targets, climate risks and systemic transformation. Getting started now is critical; our recommendations can guide organizations as they work through the process.