Samra Mariam
Principal Consultant – Climate, Nature & Resources
Robert Kilgour
Senior Consultant
OPINION | 25 MARCH 2025
Over the last few years, the disclosure landscape for climate risk and corporate transition plans has evolved rapidly. 3Keel consultants Samra Mariam and Rob Kilgour recently attended the 2025 Climate Risk Reporting conference in London to explore and discuss the latest thinking and developments amongst corporate preparers, investors and financial institutions.
Here they share their reflections on the conference, the wider context of climate and nature risk and reporting, and how organisations can take practical steps to become more resilient.
Climate and nature-related risks are systemic, complex and interdependent. They are already materialising as impacts on businesses. And yet they are not the only risks that businesses must grapple with at present.
We are, after all, in the era of the ‘polycrisis’. Geopolitical and economic headwinds, as well as societal challenges and structural inequalities, define the environment in which organisations are operating. At 3Keel, this complex reality is particularly acute for our clients in the food, drink and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. It is perhaps unsurprising then that ‘risk’, ‘resilience’ and ‘food security’ are terms emphasised in the discourse of this new environment. We saw such themes reflected upon throughout the conference.
Indeed, while the introduction of regulatory requirements – such as the UK government’s adoption of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) – has put climate and sustainability on the board agenda in the last few years, it’s imperative that it does not become merely a compliance exercise.
Organisations must recognise and embrace the strategic value of assessing, mitigating and adapting to their risks in an increasingly uncertain global environment.
In fact, another word that featured prominently during the conference was ‘opportunity’. This reflects the fact that, coupled with shifting societal trends, the transition to a low-carbon economy holds opportunities for organisations that are resilient and adaptable.
Adaptation to a changing climate will increasingly need to be a part of any robust transition plan.
In responding to a complex environment of cascading risks, organisations must set out a comprehensive, coherent and strategic response. Transition plans provide an invaluable framework for doing this.
While TCFD popularised the concept of transition plans, the HM Treasury-sponsored Transition Plan Taskforce developed them in significant detail. The IFRS’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), whose standards are the culmination of TCFD’s work, has now embraced them too, providing some much-needed consolidation in the disclosure landscape.
Transition plans take a holistic, strategic view of how a company will meet its sustainability targets, while simultaneously addressing its risks and opportunities and contributing to the wider economic transition.
More than simply a sustainability strategy, it is a piece of work that company boards must own. It sets out the company’s pathway for development and should be integral to its overall strategy.
This was a message emphasised loudly and clearly throughout the conference, and it is one we were pleased to hear. Having worked with our clients for many years to develop strategic responses to the environmental crises facing society, the momentum of the transition plan discourse is highly encouraging.
Of course, this discourse has also been driven in part by the mandatory inclusion of climate transition plans in both the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), subject to the ongoing Omnibus negotiations and amendments.
During the conference, it was also clear from investors that they increasingly want to see both current and potential investees developing transition plans. In fact, several such points were made across the two-day event:
An emerging theme at the conference, and one that we have already begun to grapple with at 3Keel is that of climate adaptation. Given the current global emissions trajectory, it’s clear that adaptation will increasingly need to be a part of any robust transition plan.
So it was encouraging to see that interest, and more importantly investment, in climate adaptation is growing. Investors are increasingly looking for companies offering adaptation and resilience solutions. 3Keel’s own Landscape Enterprise Networks, for example, is a system that helps to build business partnerships for resilient landscapes through the delivery of nature-based solutions and sustainable land management practices.
What’s more, robust adaptation can benefit organisations financially by increasing the underwriting appetites of insurers, reducing the impacts on the business from property damage and minimising business disruption from physical climate risks.
A transition plan can serve as a useful tool for enabling such adaptation. Stepping back and strategically assessing how an organisation must respond, mitigate and adapt to its risks and opportunities will ensure an effective and proactive approach, rather than a costly and reactive rear-guard action.
At 3Keel, we are increasingly working with our clients to support the development of their transition plans. We see them as an invaluable tool in the sustainability toolbox to design, codify and manage how organisations are responding to their sustainability risks and impacts.
We recommend that organisations keep abreast of developments in this space and look to be proactive rather than reactive. This will ensure that you have sufficient lead time and resources to react and adapt as you look ahead.
Forthcoming developments – such as the expected consultation this year on the UK’s implementation of the IFRS S1 and S2 standards – herald the future requirements that organisations will need to meet.
Looking further out, the recently launched Taskforce on Inequality & Financial Disclosures (TISFD) is developing a similar framework to TCFD in order to support organisations in better understanding their impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities related to people.
Organisations will need to respond to this ever-evolving landscape dynamically, recognising that their strategies cannot be static and that iteration is a sign of maturity and responsiveness.
The best thing you can do is get started now. It need not be via the development of a full ‘bells and whistles’ transition plan, but being ahead of the curve and ensuring your company’s resilience will pay off in the long term.
If any of the above has struck a chord with you and you’d like to speak with Samra, please get in touch directly using the contact form below.
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