Insights into climate transition plans

Climate transition plans are a relatively new concept and are progressing rapidly. A climate transition plan is a detailed roadmap that defines how to adapt your assets, operations, and business model to achieve net-zero by 2050. It captures risks, goals and actions related to an organisation’s transition towards a lower carbon economy. 
 
With a climate transition plan, you set out how your company will align with climate goals and meet reporting requirements to ensure long-term success in the transition to a lower-carbon economy. It helps you understand the transition risks and opportunities your company will encounter, assess how you need to transform to adapt to these risks, and capitalise on the opportunities. It provides insights into the financial consequences of the transition and makes it easier to communicate your climate actions to stakeholders.

Reporting Climate transition plans

Several reporting and certification standards explicitly require a climate transition plan. For example, to achieve level 2 or 3 in the CO₂-Prestatieladder, you need to have a transition plan in place (see our previous blog, in Dutch). Other frameworks and standards also increasingly demand this, including IFRS S2 and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).  

Under ESRS E1 (Climate Change), companies are required to disclose whether they have a climate transition plan and explain how it supports alignment with a low-carbon pathway, including targets, actions, timelines, and links to strategy and investment planning. In the simplified ESRS, this requirement is retained but streamlined: the number of detailed datapoints is reduced and the guidance is made more flexible, with clearer narrative disclosure with a focus on key features of the plan.

CDP, another disclosure framework and one of the most used and credible platforms for environmental disclosures, has included climate transition plans in their questionnaire since 2021. They have seen a sharp increase in the number of companies disclosing a climate transition plan. In 2024, over one in four companies disclosed that they have a 1.5°C-aligned climate transition plan in place, which was an increase of 44% compared to the year before. 
 
The main challenges include comprehensive strategy development, target setting, and financial planning. Incorporating a robust transition plan ensures compliance with these standards while supporting your strategic positioning in a net-zero future.

What framework should you use?

As briefly mentioned before, there are several different frameworks, standards, and initiatives around what elements a climate transition plan should have. The expectations of what constitutes a credible climate transition plan are increasingly converging.

Our view is that the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) disclosure framework is the best to use. First, because the TPT has been globally adopted through the IFRS Foundation, which has now assumed the responsibility of the TPT, and second, because it provides a clear structure based on three As: ambition, action, and accountability. The TPT has set out five key elements of a good practice transition plan:

1. Foundations: Clearly state your Strategic ambition (objectives and priorities) for transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Include impacts on your business model, value chain, key assumptions and external factors on which the plan depends.
2. Implementation Strategy: Explain the actions across operations, products, services, and policies that will achieve your strategic ambition, and outline the financial implications.
3. Engagement Strategy: Describe how you collaborate with your value chain, peers, government, communities, and civil society to support your transition goals.
4. Metrics & Targets: Define the metrics and targets used to track progress and measure success toward your strategic ambition.
5. Governance: Show how the transition plan is embedded in governance structures and decision-making to ensure accountability and delivery. 

What makes a strong climate transition plan?

What it contains

Too many Climate Transition Plans read like wish lists rather than roadmaps. A strong plan does the opposite: it makes clear how an organisation will actually move from today’s emissions to a low-carbon future.  

That starts with honesty about where emissions come from. Whether that is fossil-fuel–dependent production, carbon-intensive supply chains, or buildings and how exposed the business is to climate risks and regulation. Strong plans then back up (science-based) targets with concrete decisions, such as phasing out high-emission assets, redirecting capital expenditure toward low-carbon technologies, redesigning products, or working with suppliers to reduce Scope 3 emissions. They also make governance tangible: executive pay linked to climate targets, clear ownership at board level, and regular public reporting on progress and setbacks. Ambition without these kinds of choices is just storytelling; a credible Climate Transition Plan shows that the transition is already reshaping how the business operates today.

The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM) 2025 by the New Climate Institute assesses how major global companies approach climate leadership and identifies good practice across four core elements of a credible transition plan. These include:  

1. Transparent tracking and disclosure of emissions;
2. The setting of specific and substantiated targets that clearly signal immediate action across the value chain;
3. The implementation of key sector-specific transitions needed for deep emission reductions;
4. Taking responsibility for ongoing emissions, including scaling up durable carbon dioxide removals.

Together, these elements provide a framework to assess not only ambition, but also the transparency and integrity of corporate climate strategies. 

How it is communicated

A strong Climate Transition Plan is not only defined by what it contains, but also by how it is communicated. The effectiveness of a plan depends heavily on three closely connected elements: the intended audience, the structure and flow of the document, and the writing style and wording used throughout. 
 
Different stakeholders, such as investors, regulators, and employees, have distinct information needs, which should be reflected in the level of detail and tone of the plan. A well-structured plan guides the reader smoothly from ambition to action, clearly showing how strategic goals translate into concrete measures. Clear language and consistent terminology further enhance credibility and prevent misinterpretation. When audience, structure, and wording are well aligned, a Climate Transition Plan becomes both understandable and decision-useful.

What’s next?

There is no shortage of frameworks that can help organisations shape their Climate Transition Plans, but not all provide the same level of clarity or credibility. In our view, the Transition Plan Taskforce stands out for its focus on decision-useful, implementable plans rather than box-ticking.  
 
As this blog has shown, a strong transition plan depends on multiple characteristics: both in terms of what it contains, from targets to financial allocation, and how it is communicated. For many organisations, bringing all of this together is easier said than done. If you find yourself struggling to turn ambition into a credible, coherent story, we are ready to help. See our service page Climate and Nature for more information on our climate- and nature-related services.