By 2023, all of the UK’s listed companies and financial institutions must publish their net zero transition reports. This was announced soon after COP26, by the UK’s former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak.
EY, one of the largest professional services networks globally has recently examined what the FTSE30 companies have already published in regards to the transition plans to reach net zero.
Overall, out of the 30 companies, five of them had some form of a transition plan, the other 25 were not so much plans but instead were sustainability performance reports, ESG reports and climate action plans. The five that had plans in place, however, didn’t contain any steps to reach their targets, making their plans incomplete and not up to the standard needed to be a transition plan.
Our banks are not ready
Only 15 of the 25 without a plan, had outlined that they were considering aligning themselves with climate disclosure regimes.
Worryingly, EY’s research showed that there was only one company out of the 30 studied that had a plan in place to fund their transition.
It is clear that our banks are not ready and are not yet in line with the UK’s Net Zero-aligned Financial Centre plans. This means they must work harder to get their transition plans into place, in order for the financial sector to play an important role when reaching the UK Government’s net zero target.
