Building a robust climate transition plan: Insights from industry leaders

In this article, we break down the essential components of an effective transition plan and share key insights and quotes from sustainability leaders at Vattenfall, MPC Container Ships, and our team, gathered during a recent expert panel discussion.

Why transition plans are rising in strategic importance

Despite political headwinds and regulatory turbulence—including ongoing debates around the EU’s Omnibus proposal—climate transition plans remain central to corporate sustainability strategies. The science is clear: to limit the worst impacts of climate change, global systems must move away from fossil fuels. For businesses, this means mapping out a pathway that aligns business models, investments, and operations with a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

The anatomy of a credible transition plan

1. Build a comprehensive GHG inventory

Position Green has developed a strategic framework to support companies in building credible, ESRS-aligned climate transition plans. This framework is built on four pillars:

• Targets and ambition: Science-based and 1.5°C-aligned goals, with timelines and external credibility (e.g., via SBTi).
• Decarbonization strategy: A phased roadmap of actions, prioritized by feasibility and cost.
• Financial planning: Allocating capex, opex and r&d to support your transition plans.
• Carbon governance: Clear roles, climate-linked incentives, and board-level accountability.

“Targets and ambition are just the first step. But they set the pace and priorities of the rest of the plan. Having a strategy but no financial backing is essentially just having a wishlist.”

Jacob Westerberg, Senior Advisor, Position Green

From theory to practice: What industry leaders are doing right

Every business’s transition plan will naturally look different, but there are proven actions any company can take to reduce emissions—though not all will lead to cost savings. For some, it may start with validating science-based targets and aligning internal milestones to support meaningful progress.

A start can often be to secure alignment of company targets against a 1,5 degree future, and perhaps also strengthen it further by having these third party verified. Then the work is to see how to internally align milestones to move towards these targets.

For example, Vattenfall’s transition plan is deeply integrated across business units, with a clear connection to both company steering and financial planning.

“It helps us communicate both externally and internally how we actually are going to reach [our]
target of net zero [by] 2040 and vision of fossil freedom”.

Saga Stugholm, Environmental Advisor, Vattenfall

For MPC Container Ships, the drive to create a climate transition plan was sparked not by regulation, but by capital market expectations.

MPC’s plan includes granular scenario analysis and three core levers: fleet modernization, fleet renewal, and reliance on global renewable fuel availability. They also use alternative fuels and port electrification to drive reductions across Scopes 1 to 3.

But this still requires heavy involvement from the organization and in line with this, MPC Container Ships has worked closely to embed their climate transition plan at the C-suite level.

“We are quite successful with our transition planning because we are involving each and every one within the organization. So not just the ESG team, but also the technical team, financing team, the operations department, the Executive Management, the board of directors—everyone.”

“We are quite successful with our transition planning because we are involving each and every one within the organization.”

Sebastian Ebbing, Group Sustainability Manager, MPC Container Ships

Practical takeaways for building your transition plan

1. Understand where you are today—and what lies ahead
   Begin with a solid understanding of your current emissions profile, operational context, and external landscape. This includes greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting as well as assessing the broader trends and shifts in your industry. Scenario modelling can help visualize how different trajectories may impact your business and inform strategic decision-making.
   
2. Start early—it’s an iterative process
   Building a credible climate transition plan takes time. It’s not a one-off exercise but a multi-step, evolving process that benefits from early engagement. Starting early allows room for iteration, learning, and refinement along the way.
   
3. Anchor in strategy before diving into the details
   Resist the urge to jump straight into action. First ensure you have a clear, aligned strategy. This helps you understand the full implications of what you’re committing to, and prevents misdirected efforts or fragmented initiatives that can derail progress.
   
4. Set up for execution with real resources and governance
   Even the best strategy will stall without proper execution. Success requires clear ownership, sufficient capacity, and built-in accountability mechanisms. Dedicated resources and governance structures are critical to turn plans into progress.

Position Green: Enabling execution through data and structure

Whether driven by investors, regulators, customers, or employees, climate transition planning is now a core element of risk management and strategic positioning. A well-built plan ensures not just regulatory compliance, but operational resilience.

Position Green’s advisory practice supports companies by translating transition ambition into action, backed by structured data and governance. As Jacob Westerberg noted, targets set the tone, but execution is where the plan truly delivers value.

Our Carbon Accounting solution enables companies to build decarbonization plans they can stand behind—not just report on. With scenario modelling, organizations can explore multiple emission reduction pathways, stress-test decisions under different growth assumptions, and link actions directly to performance indicators.

Ready to map out a credible transition plan?

With Position Green’s Carbon Accounting solution, you can:

• Build board-ready scenarios that turn ambition into action
• Model multiple decarbonization pathways across all scopes
• Align targets with SBTi tracking and follow-up