ISSB to launch transition plan update
Announcement will kick off a week of developments that also include a legal opinion on climate plans and corporate risk
Companies will get a clearer sense of how they’re expected to disclose their climate transition plans today, with a long-awaited update from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
The ISSB’s parent body, the IFRS Foundation, is scheduled to provide details of how it has integrated the guidelines of the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) into its global reporting standards.
Launched by the UK Government in 2022, the TPT produced a raft of detailed guidance for financial institutions and companies about how to develop and communicate a credible climate strategy.
The UK was supposed to adopt the recommendations into regulation, but – as with its endorsement of the first two ISSB standards, and the green taxonomy – it is yet to do so.
Instead, the TPT’s mandate came to an end, and the IFRS Foundation took over ownership of its materials, which it committed to use in its own standards.
The details of what that will look like will be published later today.
Legal Clarity
It will be a busy week for developments on climate transition plans more broadly, with the launch of legal opinion due tomorrow (Tuesday).
The opinion “offers clarity on the legal position and a grounded perspective on what transition planning really means for corporate risk”, according to ClientEarth, who commissioned it.
“It aims to inform and guide government policy and corporate practice on transition plans, and ensure that apprehension doesn’t get in the way of action,” said the environmental law firm.
For details of the event, which will be held as part of London Climate Week, see here.
Standards for sectoral pathways
In Europe, the EU’s official standard setter Cen Cenelec will close a ballot on Thursday on sectoral transition plans.
The upcoming standards, which Real Economy Progress first covered in April 2024, will tell public organisations, industry bodies, companies or NGOs who want to devise or monitor sectoral decarbonisation plans, how to do so credibly.
A draft document has been circulated among all Cen Cenelec’s national members, and – if it gets through this week’s vote – should be finalised by October.
Cen Cenelec is a member of the International Organisation for Standardisation, or ISO, which last week launched a consultation on a new standard for financial institutions’ transition plans.
Led by the British Standards Institution, the standard will focus on the process and governance underpinning such plans.
Feedback is being invited until September 12th.