Transition Planning: Moving from Principles to Practice

Columbia University’s Faculty House, 64 Morningside Dr, Skyline Dining Room, 4th floor, and online.

The outcome document summarizing the main takeaways from the conversation is here.

As the global economy transitions to a just, low-emissions, climate-resilient, and nature-positive future, we can expect every sector to transform. However, systemic transformation requires strategic transition planning, effective coordination, and communication across the economy.

To facilitate this, governments can play a decisive role by managing change and setting incentives and constraints for private actors. Similarly, private sector actors can enhance their corporate strategies and financing decisions to support this transition. Transition plans serve as a roadmap to transformation by outlining a strategic vision and identifying capital needs, external factors, and dependencies.

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), the Centre for Economic Transition Expertise (CETEx) at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Climateworks Centre (working in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)) invited public and private sector practitioners looking to play their part in accelerating climate action to join this interactive, workshop-style event to brainstorm around:

• How to accelerate progress towards integrated transition planning across the ecosystem, bringing public and private sector transition planning together
• How best to leverage new approaches, frameworks, tools, and metrics that can enhance the credibility of transition planning across the economy and fill any remaining gaps

Read our report, Taking the lead on climate action and sustainable development: Recommendations for strategic national transition planning at the centre of a whole-of-system climate response, and accompanying handbook, A handbook to strategic national transition planning: Supplementary guidance and examples.