The Transition Plan Taskforce officially concluded on Thursday, with a final report summarising its work and next steps for global transition planning.  

‘Progress Achieved and the Path Ahead: The Final Report of the Transition Plan Taskforce’, points out opportunities and challenges for the global adoption of transition plans. Future collective efforts should focus on building market capabilities, sharing best practices, developing tools for decision-makers, and fostering global consistency in transition planning norms, it found.  

Economic secretary to the Treasury and TPT steering group co-chair Tulip Siddiq said since it was announced at COP26, the TPT has been “instrumental” in driving this part of the sustainable finance agenda in the UK and internationally.   

“I look forward to continuing to engage with this important work on shaping transition planning in the UK and internationally,” Siddiq said.  

TPT co-chair and chief executive of Aviva Group, Amanda Blanc, agreed: “When we began, transition plans were a little-known topic. Today, they have become the market norm, with the power to help reshape how businesses and financial institutions approach the net zero transition. Now is the time to turn those plans into meaningful action which will help deliver the Paris Agreement.”  

During its existence, the TPT created a Disclosure Framework, along with guidance materials, to serve as a resource for organisations. As part of this, TPT published asset owner and manager guidance, with input from pension funds and with the Pensions Regulator as an observer. The IFRS Foundation took over TPT’s disclosure materials in June, to seek global adoption of robust climate transition plans under the IFRS S2 standard.   

The Foundation’s director strategic affairs, Mardi McBrien, said: "The IFRS Foundation thanks the TPT for its leadership in developing these materials and for their commitment to supporting harmonisation in the disclosure landscape by handing responsibility for their disclosure-specific materials to the IFRS Foundation, as the TPT completes its work.”  

She added that the TPT materials are now available on the IFRS Sustainability Knowledge Hub, adding: “Over coming months we will set out further details around our plans to utilise the materials in our work to deliver global comparability in disclosure around transition planning."  

In August last year, the Financial Conduct Authority said it would consult in 2024 on rules and guidance for listed companies to disclose in line with the UK-endorsed ISSB standards and the TPT Framework as a complementary package. 

 

Sacha Sadan, director of ESG at the FCA, welcomed the report and said: “With the importance of transition plans to investors' decision-making and product construction, we are committed to consult on strengthening our disclosure expectations, drawing on the Framework.”  

A new initiative, the International Transition Plan Network, has also been launched by thinktank E3G “to foster collaboration and global norms for private sector transition plans and their use at country level”, the group said.   

E3G, which hosted the TPT secretariat jointly with the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, said the new member-based network “will act as a collaborative platform, bringing together official sector actors with a wider community of practice to continue advancing transition planning”.