Call it out. Don’t swallow the PR. If you’re an investor, a regulator, or just someone who cares about not frying the planet, demand better: credible, costed, accountable transition plans. Now.
Because a new study covering 2,000 of the world’s biggest companies (US$87 trillion in market cap) shows what many of us suspected: most corporate “net zero transition plans” are little more than glossy brochures.
The rot exposed
• Only 2% of firms actually show how they’ll shift capital away from high-carbon assets.
• Most aren’t even bothering with Scope 3 emissions, i.e. the bulk of their climate impact.
• Too many are leaning on tech fairytales rather than making cuts today.
• On current trajectories, high-emitting sectors will blow through the 1.5°C carbon budget by 61% between now and 2050.
That’s not a transition. That’s a slow-motion car crash.
Why it stinks
This isn’t harmless optimism, it’s greenwash on an industrial scale. Boards are banking reputational credit today, while leaving the costs and chaos for tomorrow. And we all know who picks up the tab when the climate bill arrives.
The Ledger’s verdict
Corporate climate credibility is close to zero. Unless regulators, investors, and communities start demanding capital reallocation, full emissions disclosure, and enforceable targets, these plans aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
TTL Narrative: Companies love to talk about “future-proofing” while ignoring the present. The irony? The transition is happening anyway — floods, fires, droughts, mass migration. Pretending to have a plan isn’t leadership, it’s cowardice.
Stop applauding the brochures. Demand the receipts.