Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the conditions of the mandate to become net-zero that he plans to impose on UK companies and financial services.

The Government has set legally binding net zero targets under the Climate Change Act and has committed to making the UK the best place in the world for green finance.

The recently published report: ‘Greening Finance: A Roadmap to Sustainable Investing’ sets out how the Government will achieve this, focusing on the first step: ensuring that every financial decision maker has the information needed to take climate and the environment into account with new world-leading Sustainability Disclosure Requirements.

Detailed, credible transition plans that are integrated with other disclosures and incorporate interim milestones and targets, can support markets in monitoring progress towards a net-zero economy. They are also essential for the effective exercise of market discipline, and investors’ ability to hold investee company boards and management to account.

The government therefore expects to see the publication of transition plans become the norm across the economy and the Chancellor announced at COP26 that the UK will move towards making publication of transition plans mandatory.

To help deliver this, the Government will set up a high-level Transition Planning Taskforce. This will bring together a range of stakeholders to develop a ‘gold standard’ for transition plans, coordinating with international efforts under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero and others, and reporting by the end of 2022.

As standards for transition plans emerge, the Government and regulators will take steps to incorporate these into the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and strengthen regulation to encourage consistency in published plans and increased adoption by 2023.