The number of credible climate transition plans is on the rise, according to Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.
The £65bn (€75bn) pension pool, which runs money on behalf of 11 British local authorities, published its latest proxy voting report this week.
It notes that Border to Coast rubber-stamped more transition plans in 2025 than in previous years.
Transition plans are documents that lay out how an entity expects to achieve its decarbonisation objectives over the coming years and decades, including the phasing out of polluting activities and investments into greener revenue lines.
Between 2021 and 2024, there was a spike in companies putting their plans to shareholders at annual meetings in what became known as ‘say on climate’ votes.
The trend has died off more recently as firms struggle with the realities of meeting their stated decarbonisation goals, US republicans clamp down on those with public net zero commitments, and regulators in Europe and the UK cool on plans to make transition planning mandatory.
Colin Baines, a stewardship manager at Border to Coast, said that, while fewer companies gave investors a say on climate at last year’s proxy season, “those that do are of a much higher standard than in previous years”.
“Several years ago, there were dozens of transition plans being proposed, but we only supported 30% due to an inadequate decarbonisation strategy,” he told IPE.
“In 2025, we were presented with seven and supported six of them – including several we had previously opposed.”
Baines described this as a “significant trend” and a “positive development”.
“We are seeing more meaningful transition plans coming through and less greenwashing”
Colin Baines, stewardship manager at Border to Coast
“It appears companies have listened to investor concerns regarding quality, as we are seeing more meaningful transition plans coming through and less greenwashing. These are strategic documents of great value to long-term responsible investors.”
The best climate transition plans are those that lay out immediate actions the company will take, as well as medium- and long-term goals, and that align closely with climate science,” he added.
This week, the World Benchmarking Alliance published an assessment of the transition plans of 1,600 real-economy companies.
The investor-backed non-profit concluded that “a significant number of the world’s most influential companies have aligned their operational emissions with their relevant sectoral 1.5°C pathway”.
Meanwhile, environmental reporting platform CDP released its annual analysis of 1,355 companies.
It concluded that “a small group of leaders – 15% of all companies assessed – are setting themselves apart by implementing robust environmental strategies”.
“These global leaders are cutting emissions at an average compound annual growth rate of ~ 4% (compared to 1% for companies at other levels) while using the transition to drive new revenue opportunities and improve efficiency,” CDP wrote.
It also noted that in seven out of 13 sectors, “climate leaders” were exhibiting higher of similar market growth compared with those at the lowest performance levels.
