About

Published: November, 2026

How the Roadmap was developed

This roadmap was developed by ERM, Shift, and WBCSD. The methodology has five parts:

Foundation: The Roadmap is built on the maturity pathway that Shift developed in collaboration with eight companies through its Climate & Human Rights Practice Group. It is grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It maps the integration of people-centered considerations into climate transition planning and implementation across six business domains and four maturity levels.
Consultation: More than 25 companies and expert organizations shaped the business domains, maturity levels, milestones and practical actions through practical workshops, interviews and written review rounds.
Review of existing frameworks: We reviewed existing frameworks, including the IFRS/TPT Transition Plan Disclosure Framework, so that the Roadmap complements, rather than duplicates, existing expectations related to transition planning .
Case studies: These are drawn from public reporting and direct input from the company and are reviewed by the company before publication. Inclusion is not an endorsement. Case studies considered covered at least some evidence of implementation on a climate-related activity, concrete outcomes for business and people, transferability to other contexts, honest reflections on lessons learned.
Tools and resources: Tools and resources were selected because they are relevant for companies, practical to apply, and/or consistent with the UNGPs and other international standards. We have not tested or verified them, and inclusion is not an endorsement.

Scope and limitations

Scope: The Roadmap covers the people-related impacts of climate action, including impacts on people linked to corporate mitigation, including offsets, and adaptation measures. It applies across six business domains and is designed for companies of any sector working to integrate people-centered considerations into their climate transition planning and implementation efforts.
Not a sequence: Maturity levels are not a prescribed sequence. Companies may be more advanced in some business domains than others, and the best starting point depends on context, priorities and existing capabilities.
Indicative milestones: Milestones are indicative and sector-agnostic. Companies should adapt them to their own context, size, sector and geography.
Not a rating: Maturity levels are a learning tool, not a rating. Results are self-assessed and not verified, so they are not comparable between companies and should not be used as public claims of performance.
Not a compliance tool: The Roadmap is not an audit, certification or compliance tool. It complements, but does not replace, standards such as IFRS S2 / TPT, and using it does not ensure compliance with disclosure or due diligence laws, which vary by jurisdiction. See the legal disclaimer.
Currency: The Roadmap reflects the state of practice as of November 2026. Standards and regulations are evolving, so check any current regulatory requirements that may apply.
Third-party content: Case studies draw on public reporting and company input and are not independently verified; each shows a single point in time. Some tools may be proprietary or paid, and we have not tested them. Inclusion of a case study or tool is not an endorsement by WBCSD, ERM or Shift of the company, product or its overall performance.

How the Roadmap relates to other frameworks

The Roadmap uses a broad view of the term climate transition plan, which includes actions to reduce emissions (decarbonization), offset residual emissions (offsetting), and adapt to physical climate risks (adaptation). While some actors define a "transition plan" narrowly, focusing only on decarbonization, this matrix adopts a more comprehensive approach.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to consider material risks to the company (financial materiality), as well as impacts on people (impact materiality). For most companies, this would include consideration of physical climate risks, and their related impacts.
The ISSB’s IFRS S2 standard (which has incorporated TCFD) requires disclosure of both transition risk and physical climate risks, and how a company plans to respond through strategy, financial planning, and governance.
The Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) guidance focuses on decarbonization and climate resilience (climate related risks and opportunities).
The CDP’s 2024 Climate Questionnaire expects companies to disclose climate transition plans, with an emphasis on decarbonization and the role of offsetting, although it also includes questions related to adaptation and climate risk management.

Key terms used across the Roadmap, in alphabetical order.

Adaptation: Actions to prepare for and adjust to the current and expected physical impacts of climate change, such as protecting assets, workers and communities from physical climate risks.
Affected stakeholders: Individuals or groups whose rights or interests are, or could be, affected by a company's climate-related plans and actions, such as workers, communities, workers in the value chain and consumers/end users. They are distinct from wider stakeholders (for example investors, policymakers, peers and civil society), who can support or influence a company's approach but are not directly affected by it. The two should not be conflated.
Business domain: One of six areas of business decision-making (Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Operations, Capital Allocation, Stakeholder Engagement) where people-centered considerations can be embedded into climate-related decisions already being made.
Climate transition plan: A company's plan for how it will respond to climate change. The Roadmap takes a broad view that includes reducing emissions (decarbonization), offsetting residual emissions (offsetting) and adapting to physical climate risks (adaptation), rather than decarbonization alone.
Decarbonization: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from a company's operations and value chain. Also referred to as mitigation.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): A principle under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requiring that Indigenous Peoples be consulted in good faith, with the aim of obtaining their consent, before projects or decisions affecting their lands, territories, resources or rights takes place. Consents must be i) free: without coercion or manipulation, ii) prior: sought well in advance, respecting Indigenous Peoples’ own decision-making timelines, iii) informed: based on full information about the project's nature, scope, impacts and risks.
Grievance mechanism or process: A process or set of processes for receiving, evaluating and addressing grievances from stakeholders affected by a company’s activities in a timely and consistent manner.
Human rights due diligence (HRDD): An ongoing process, set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, through which a company identifies, prevents, mitigates and accounts for how it addresses its actual and potential adverse impacts on human rights.
Impacts on people: The positive or negative effects that a company's activities, decisions, or business relationships have on people's lives, wellbeing and rights. In the context of climate-related plans and actions, this can include adverse effects such as job losses from asset phase-out or the displacement of a community by a new project, as well as positive effects such as new employment opportunities or improved access to services.
Just transition: The shift to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy, managed so that it supports workers and communities and contributes to decent work for all, social inclusion and poverty eradication. Recognized in the preamble to the Paris Agreement and set out into the ILO Guidelines, it is both an outcome (an economy with shared benefits) and a process (requiring meaningful engagement with affected groups).
Maturity level: One of four maturity stages (Beginning, Developing, Established, Leading) describing how consistently and systematically a company has embedded people-centered considerations into its climate action in a given business domain, from ad hoc and reactive to systematically embedded, regularly reviewed and backed by accountability at senior levels. Levels describe practice, not a rating.
Meaningful engagement: An ongoing, two-way process of dialogue between a company and the people affected or potentially affected by its climate-related plans and activities, or their legitimate representatives. It starts early in planning, draws on relevant information, and enables the company to listen, understand and respond so that stakeholders’ views genuinely shape decisions rather than being informed afterwards.
Milestone: A specific, observable practice that marks progress within a business domain at a given maturity level; the Roadmap's unit of assessment and target-setting.
Offsetting: Greenhouse gas emission reductions achieved by a project and used to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere, for example to meet a voluntary or mandatory target.
People-centered considerations: The human and social impacts of business operations and climate action, covering fair labor standards, worker health and safety, diversity, equity and inclusion, human rights and community wellbeing, across a company's own operations, supply chain and consumers.
People-centered transition: The Roadmap's term for a climate transition in which companies identify, prevent and address negative impacts on people and contribute to positive outcomes for them. It builds on the established concept of just transition, and the two terms are used interchangeably in the Roadmap.
Physical risk: Risk resulting from climate change that can be event-driven (acute) or from longer-term shifts in climatic patterns (chronic). Acute physical risks arise from weather-related events such as storms, floods, drought or heatwaves. Chronic physical risks include changes in precipitation and temperature.
Transition risk: Risks that arise from efforts to a transition to a lower carbon economy including policy, legal, technological, market and reputational risks.
Priority climate-related activities: The climate-related measures, such as specific decarbonization, adaptation or offsetting activities, sites or investments, that a company addresses first. Each company decides its priorities based on its business context, for example areas of greater capital expenditure or higher emissions.
Severe impacts on people: The impacts on people that are most serious, assessed in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights using three criteria: scale (how serious the harm is or would be), scope (how widespread the harm is or would be) and irremediability (whether and how easily it can be put right). Companies address the most severe impacts first.
Priority areas: The parts of a company's climate plan where potential impacts on people are likely to be most severe, as identified through risk assessment.
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs): The global standard on the State duty to protect human rights, corporate responsibility to respect them (including through human rights due diligence), and access to remedy for affected people. The Roadmap's approach to assessing and prioritizing impacts on people is grounded in them.
Value chain: The full range of interactions, resources and relationships to a company's business model and the external environment in which it operates. It includes those the company uses and depends on to create its products or services, from conception to delivery, consumption and end-to-life.

The concept of a just transition originated in 1980s North American labor and environmental movements. Enshrined in the ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition and the Paris Agreement, it has become a key concept to ensure climate action supports workers and communities without leaving anyone behind in the transition to a net- zero economy. It is both an outcome—a net-zero, climate-resilient economy with shared benefits— and a process, requiring meaningful engagement with affected groups.

A just transition is grounded in human rights. In 2024, the UN Human Rights Council underscored the importance of a just transition for ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation, highlighting the need for companies to respect human rights in line with UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the climate context.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the companies, practice groups, and expert organizations who contributed time, data, and expertise to this Roadmap, including participants in Shift's Climate & Human Rights Practice Group and the 25+ organizations consulted on business domains, milestones, and actions.

www.wbcsd.org

About WBCSD

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is the leading community of around 230 global businesses making sustainability performance a key driver for competitiveness. Established in 1995, WBCSD is a non-profit member-led organization that connects business leaders through all sectors and major economies, and creates the tools and frameworks to scale collective impact, drive cross-sector innovation, and shape an ambitious, enabling policy agenda. We operate from seven offices worldwide – in Geneva, New York, Chicago, Amsterdam, London, Singapore and Wuhan – enabling collaboration across value chains and geographies. Together with our members, we are rewiring economic and financial systems to support the transition to a net-zero, nature-positive, and inclusive future that creates business value.

www.erm.com

About ERM

ERM is the world’s largest pure play sustainability consultancy, with ~ 8,000 professionals operating from over 140 offices across 40+ countries. ERM’s purpose is to shape a sustainable future with the world’s leading organizations by helping clients manage risk, unlock value, achieve regulatory compliance, strengthen stakeholder trust, and deliver sustainable business performance at pace and scale. Founded in 1971, ERM partners with a significant share of Fortune 500 companies and other organizations to help them navigate complex environmental, social, safety, climate, and sustainability challenges. Combining strategic advisory capabilities with deep technical expertise, ERM supports clients throughout the full project and asset lifecycle, from planning, permitting, and financing through construction, operations, and closure.

Visit shiftproject.org and follow on LinkedIn.

About Shift

Shift is a non-profit, mission-driven organization working globally to embed respect for human rights into business. We leverage the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to shape the standards, incentives and practices that are needed for a fairer economic system in which everyone, not just the few, can thrive.

Legal disclaimer

This roadmap has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax, legal or other professional advice.