COP29 showed that the conversation on corporate climate transition plans has moved on in the two years since the UN Secretary General’s high level expert group for net zero targets launched its Integrity Matters report, recommending that non-state actors develop and publish climate transition plans with clear short and long term targets. Climate transition plans are emerging as critical tools for businesses to navigate the shift to a net zero economy while remaining resilient and competitive.
Shifting from climate commitments to climate action
Professor Anders Levermann, an expert in climate system with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), warned of the rapid pace at which humanity is transgressing the nine identified planetary boundaries, with six already surpassed. Among these, the climate system stands out as particularly precarious, driven by the escalating impacts of tipping points such as the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the destabilisation of the Amazon rainforest, and the complete loss of Arctic summer sea ice predicted within the next two decades. For businesses, the most immediate concern lies in the exponential increase of weather extremes. Anders Levermann:
A small rise in temperature shifts the climate’s bell curve, drastically increasing the frequency and intensity of heatwaves and floods. For every degree of warming, rainfall events grow 7% more intense and 17% more frequent. With global warming already at 1.5°C, land-based temperatures have doubled these impacts, leading to a 60% surge in extreme rainfall events. The jet stream’s increasing instability is driving dynamic and destructive weather patterns, posing a societal tipping point that could destabilise economies and infrastructures worldwide.
Transition plans have emerged as critical tools in the global shift from climate commitments to tangible action. As Vicky Sins of the World Benchmarking Alliance explains, these plans are no longer just optional strategies but have become essential, even mandatory in parts of the world. They enable companies to detail not just their emission reduction targets but also the concrete steps for achieving them, integrating climate accountability into the private sector’s role in meeting the 1.5°C target. Vicky Sins:
We all know that the window of actually achieving a 1.5°C is closing. We want to see that the transition plan is aligning with this 1.5°C goal, and then also that they should include a sectoral and regional approach and really look at the implementation efforts on the ground beyond the companies themselves.
A strategic imperative for business resilience and climate action
Johan Falk, Co-founder of the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, stressed the growing importance of transition plans for businesses, calling them essential for long-term success. He highlighted that while 90% of the economy has set net-zero targets, it is crucial for companies to have detailed transition plans that outline how they will remain resilient during transformation while still driving business growth. Falk noted that transition plans should not be seen as a mere compliance exercise, but rather as a strategic tool integrated into business development, product innovation, procurement and overall strategy.
There are two approaches to transition plans. Either you can see this as a “tick in the box,” something that you have to do, and some companies will do that, or you can see it as a strategic tool, basically to develop your business. To be successful as a business, you have to integrate your transition plans.
Giulio Berruti, Director of Climate at BSR, emphasised that while progress has been made in transitioning from setting climate targets to disclosing transition plans, the real focus must now shift to using these plans as guiding strategies for comprehensive business transformation. Berruti highlighted the critical importance of aligning climate action plans with business models, as well as ensuring a just transition. Giulio Berruti:
There’s a lot of work that’s been going on from companies in the past two years, from moving from targets to disclosing climate transition plans. We know that disclosure, it’s one part of the picture and climate action plans need to be the guiding strategy for getting companies to where they need to be. Climate transition plans not only should be linked to the business strategy itself, but it should also be the vehicle through which companies, embed climate, justice and nature related considerations into how they approach their sustainability journey.
Harnessing resource efficiency and regeneration in emerging economies
Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and a former member of the UN Secretary Generals high level expert group (HLEG), highlighted the unique challenges and opportunities for emerging economies in the transition to net zero. With constraints ranging from limited fiscal resources to high financing costs, resource efficiency must become an integral part of business models to ensure survival and competitiveness, both locally and as exporters to developed markets. Arunabha Ghosh:
There’s a lot of regenerative agriculture happening, eg in India and Indonesia. But when we talk about regenerative from bioplastics, regenerative from the point of view of valuing nature, so that the value of the tree and the value of the soil from which the tree is growing is greater than the value of the chopped wood, all that requires very different approaches towards the business and the financial models that help you scale up.
Actionable climate plans and transparent reporting
Anna Hall, Head of Public Affairs for Alfa Laval’s Energy Division, underscored the necessity of detailed, actionable planning to achieve net zero targets. Alfa Laval is on a mission to achieve carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 by 2030, alongside a 50% reduction in scope 3 emissions, with a goal of reaching net zero across all scopes by 2050. Hall emphasised the importance of reporting for transparency and clarity, particularly through the new sustainability reporting standards. She noted that while many companies in Europe are grappling with these new frameworks, they offer a valuable tool for establishing a common language for climate action.
The new sustainability reporting, I know a lot of people struggling with it now in Europe, but I think it’s very good because it gives us a new language. So we can have transparency and we can actually talk about measurements and we can compare apples to apples and pears and pears. That is going to be a super good source for the future when we actually know what we’re talking about.
The journey to net zero demands more than commitments—it requires actionable, transformative strategies that integrate climate, nature, and social equity into the very fabric of business operations. To support organisations in crafting effective and actionable plans, the Exponential Roadmap Initiative offers a free-to-use transition plan template, as well as a complementary mapping document to provide detailed insights into which transition plan elements are required or requested by various initiatives or regulatory bodies.
Hear more about transition plans in these COP29 sessions:
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