UK Launches consultation on Transition Finance Guidelines

The Transition Finance Council, co-founded by the City of London Corporation and the UK Government, has launched a consultation on draft Transition Finance Guidelines to unlock capital for high-emitting businesses (announcement dated 18 August 2025).

• Consultation and guideline details:

  • Consultation open: 18 August 2025 — closes 19 September 2025 at 12pm (first-phase feedback on content, structure, usability).
  • Framework: voluntary Principles and Factors applying across asset classes and geographies (including emerging markets and developing economies), focused on finance to companies rather than projects.
  • Timeline: second consultation due in November 2025; final Guidelines intended for 2026.

• Background and scope:

  • The Guidelines aim to mobilise capital for high-emitting sectors such as transport, agriculture, cement, shipping, addressing complexity of industrial decarbonisation.
  • The release cites more than $2 trillion invested in decarbonisation in 2024 (source: BNEF) and positions the Guidelines as a step to reduce investor uncertainty and broaden transition finance uptake. Named leaders: Rt Hon Lord Alok Sharma KCMG (Chair, Transition Finance Council) and Vanessa Havard-Williams OBE (Chair, Transition Finance Market Review).