A practical shift towards decarbonisation: EY comments on Transition Plan Taskforce's sector guidance

Rob Doepel, EY Managing Partner, Sustainability, UK & Ireland, comments:

“This suite of sector-specific guidance is an important, practical step forward in the UK's journey towards a low carbon economy and will enable the country's biggest businesses to make greater progress, faster. These sectors will be key to the UK’s broader Net Zero transition and this tailored guidance will help these businesses clarify and address industry-specific barriers to decarbonisation.

"For example, while effective transition planning will always require organisations to measure and address emissions across their supply chain, this need is particularly pronounced in the oil and gas sector, where tracking at each stage of the product’s journey can be highly complex. With this in mind, it’s encouraging to see this guidance emphasise the need to segment emissions tracking and reporting at each step, from extraction and refinement, to processing and storage, and on to usage.

“While regulatory momentum towards transition plan disclosure continues to build, the significant business case for organisations to get ahead of legislation and develop their own transition plans grows more significant. The talent and investment required for market-leading Net Zero transitions will flow towards first-mover organisations.

"The TPT has provided a comprehensive toolkit that will support businesses accelerate from initial planning to implementation. With these sector-specific documents open for consultation until the end of the year, we would encourage organisations to share feedback for their own sector, as well as those sectors their transition may be dependent on, such as the industries that key suppliers work in.”

Khadija Ali, EY UK Financial Services Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader, comments:

“It is in everyone’s interest to secure a stable climate for the future. Given the criticality of its role in financing the transition, the financial services sector – including banks, asset managers, and asset owners – has a particular responsibility to drive the move to Net Zero. With strong Net Zero goals in place, there is now a need for financial services to articulate credible transition plans under a structured and consistent framework, and today’s action-oriented guidance from the TPT helps to bridge that gap.

“We are particularly pleased to see the banking guidance include advice on assessing client transition plans, aligning capital allocation to transition strategy and progress monitoring.

“The financial services sector is making progress, but more is needed in all these areas. Alongside last month’s disclosure framework and today’s guidance for other sectors, the TPT’s work can help translate well-intended Net Zero targets into much-needed action.”