Corporate climate transition plans: what to look for

Climate transition plans are the link between international climate goals and the climate-related activities of individualentities – governments, cities, non-financial companies, and financial institutions. Maintaining a 50% chance to keep global warming under 1.5°C requires emissions stay below 500 GtCO2 after January 1st 2020, a volume that will likely be exceeded before 2030 if current emission trends continue. For companies around the world, this global need for a swift and drastic shift in emission trends means that a complete overhaul of practices and business models is urgent. The absolute emissions of individual companies must be reduced at a pace consistent with the global 1.5°C trajectory, and notably must halve by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Achieving this requires the transformation of companies’ activities along their value chain, which in turn requires the establishment of mechanisms that enables for climate progress to be monitored and ensures climate goals are protected from other competing objectives. It is the purpose of the climate transition plan to tackle all these aspects, thus providing a robust,transparent, and evidence-based roadmap for the company to transition and for other stakeholders to hold it accountable.