Climate transition planning - Costs and benefits

***** THIS IS AN AWARD NOTICE, NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION *****

This procurement is being concluded following a mini competition under the Crown Commercial Services RM6126 Research and Insights framework.

Brief Description of Requirement.

The 2023 Green Finance Strategy sets out how the UK Government will pursue its ambition to become the world's first Net Zero-aligned Financial Centre. Transition planning can play a key role to achieve this ambition and the UK is already leading internationally on promoting the development and use of transition plans.

Transition planning is the process by which companies set climate ambitions and targets and decide the steps they need to take to reach those targets. The subsequent disclosure of a transition plan provides key stakeholders with the information they need to understand the steps a company intends to take, when and why. The creation and disclosure of transition plans may therefore lead to costs and benefits to preparers, users, and the wider society as we transition to a low carbon economy.

Current evidence on the costs and benefits of transition plans is limited and focused on listed and financial services companies. There is a substantial evidence gap to understand the effects of transition plans for the UK largest private companies. Additionally, there is limited evidence on the additional costs and benefits of transition planning disclosure when firms are already producing information in line with existing climate related disclosure requirements, e.g., Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

The proposed research seeks to fill this gap. It will identify and measure the costs and benefits of transition planning and generate a robust evidence base for planned policies.