The Assessing low-Carbon Transition (ACT) initiative drives climate action by enabling benchmarking against advanced, science-based metrics. ACT provides a forward-looking, integrated framework that supports companies to align their climate transition strategies with low-carbon pathways.

Impact to date

• 350+ companies engaged
• Nine high-impact (as identified by TCFD) sector methodologies published, with six in progress for release in early 2022
• 180 company assessments published in the Climate and Energy Benchmark produced by CDP in collaboration with the World Benchmarking Alliance

Supporting CDP’s mission

CDP’s standardized and globally recognized reporting system enables companies to understand best practice, benchmark against peers, and in turn, take meaningful steps to address climate change. Mapped against CDP’s climate change questionnaire, the ACT methodology complements this, and uses the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)’s Sectoral Decarbonisation Approach to allocate each company a decarbonisation pathway aligned with an emissions scenario.

How it works

Business emissions targets are assessed against their compatibility with climate change scenarios. In addition, the ACT assessment evaluates past and expected emissions trends, low-carbon investments and research and development, transition plans, engagement with suppliers and clients, and progress in developing low-carbon business models.

ACT workstreams enabling low carbon transition

Transition standard setting

Knowledge of how industries can transition to the low carbon economy is often scattered across different pieces of research and inaccessible to those driving the change. By standardizing transition strategy in ACT methodologies built around a common framework – and involving company and sector stakeholders in the methodology development – we can ensure this essential information is made available to those who need it.

Tool development

A gap can exist between theory and practice. By building tools to allow the knowledge from ACT methodologies to be easily used by companies and other stakeholders, we enable action to achieve low carbon transition in the real economy.

Assessing progress

Making progress towards a climate goal requires understanding where you are now and how far you have to go. Based on standardized sector ACT methodologies, ACT assessments provide this feedback on progress along with information on which actions to undertake next. As a result, faster low carbon transition action is enabled.

Capacity building

Low carbon transition is a new field, so too many decision-makers lack the knowledge and tools they need to successfully drive change and take advantage of opportunities. By disseminating knowledge on low carbon transition gained from the methodology development and assessment processes to key stakeholders, ACT can catalyze wider success by building capacity for low carbon transition.

Current ACT Projects

How to get involved

• Input into the methodology development: find the latest opportunities on the ACT website
• See ACT assessment results in the automotive, electric utilities and oil and gas benchmarks
• Join the ACT community group on LinkedIn
• Get in touch to discuss how you can use the ACT methodologies