This report is designed to support the financial sector to improve assessment and interactions with clients in line with net zero plans. It has been created as part of the UNEP FI TCFD programme and builds on the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s Banking Environment Initiative Let’s Discuss Climate: the essential guide to bank-client engagement.

Having made commitments to transition portfolios to net zero, financial institutions need to transform their business models so that the ways they work with clients and the finance that is deployed aligns with net zero targets by 2050.

However, neither sufficient support nor expertise are yet in place for client-facing staff to analyse climate risks, assess the robustness of client’s transition plans nor identify financing opportunities that incorporate climate considerations. This report has been created to assist financial institutions to better structure climate-related assessment processes to improve engagement and net zero transitions with real economy clients.

Themes covered around client transition assessments:
  • Banking Environment Initiative’s Let’s Discuss Climate: Guide to Bank-Client Engagement;
  • Best practices reported in data collection, baseline analysis and forward-looking evaluations;
  • Recommendations for leadership strategies across these pillars of climate-related assessment;
  • Sector-specific mapping of resources; and
  • Case studies of client engagement strategies led by financial institutions.