The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) released its report Advancing Corporate Transition Planning to Enable a Fossil-Free Future (April 2026), drawing on an assessment of 280 of the world’s most influential companies across energy-intensive sectors, including oil and gas, electric utilities, steel and automotive manufacturing, to evaluate the readiness of corporate transition plans.
Human Level’s Take:
- Where are energy-intensive companies today — and where are they actually heading with their transition plans? The World Benchmarking Alliance finds there is still considerable distance between current plans and the scale of transformation required. In oil and gas, for example, fewer than one in ten companies have a valid long-term target covering their most material emissions.
- Across oil and gas, electric utilities, steel and automotive manufacturing, low-carbon investments continue to fall short of what 1.5°C pathways require. The report also highlights how closely interconnected these sectors are, meaning progress in one area increasingly depends on the pace of transition in another.
- Just transition efforts also remain at an early stage of development. While emissions targets are becoming more common, measurable commitments linked to workers and communities are still limited, with only 4% of companies setting targets for workers and 3% for communities.
- So what appears to move transition planning from ambition to implementation? Stronger policy and regulatory signals play a significant role in driving more advanced corporate action. Companies showing greater progress are also more likely to combine credible targets with capital reallocation, asset phase-down strategies, and shifts in business models aligned with decarbonisation pathways.
- Other key actions for companies include increasing transparency about transition planning, aligning investments with climate ambition, and ensuring workforce and community impacts are integrated into transition planning rather than treated as a parallel issue.
Some key takeaways:
- Three pillars for a coordinated transition away from fossil fuels: WBA frames the transition away from fossil fuels around three interconnected pillars. The first focuses on overcoming economic dependence, highlighting the need for companies and economies to reduce reliance on fossil fuel revenues and business models, particularly in sectors and regions where these are deeply embedded. The second pillar, transforming supply and demand, addresses the shift required across value chains, including scaling clean energy, changing production processes, and influencing consumption patterns. The third pillar, advancing international cooperation and climate diplomacy, emphasises the role of cross-border collaboration, policy alignment, and global frameworks in enabling a coordinated and effective transition.
- Uneven progress on transition planning across sectors: Progress on corporate transition planning remains limited and uneven across sectors. Overall ambition and credibility of emissions targets are insufficient, with many companies lacking robust long-term commitments, particularly in high-emitting sectors such as oil and gas. A key gap lies in capital allocation, where investments in low-carbon solutions fall short of what is required for 1.5°C pathways, with interdependencies across sectors further slowing progress. At the same time, just transition considerations remain underdeveloped, with very few companies setting measurable targets for workers or communities affected by the transition. The findings also show that stronger regulatory frameworks are associated with more advanced corporate action, while weaker or inconsistent policy signals are linked to slower progress and continued reliance on fossil fuel–based models.
- Stronger alignment is needed to advance on a just transition: The report concludes that achieving a managed and just transition away from fossil fuels requires closer alignment between public policy and private sector action. It indicates that companies play a key role in this transition by strengthening transparency through robust transition planning and disclosure, aligning investment decisions with low-carbon pathways, and embedding just transition considerations into their strategies. This includes accounting for workforce and social impacts alongside emissions reductions, as well as engaging with emerging standards and independent assessments to ensure consistency and credibility in transition plans.
