Risk and adaptation
Physical and transition risk, scenario analysis, resilience, adaptation plans, and the disclosures UK SRS S2, the Companies Act or the pension rules ask for.
UK SRS S2 ¶¶10, 22Climate consultants · risk, adaptation and transition
Climate change consultancy: risk and transition
Climate change consultancy is two jobs: understanding the climate risks to the organisation, and planning its own transition to a lower-carbon economy.
UK SRS is an independent reference site. We have assessed no consultancy and publish no consultancy prices or rankings.
The work
What a climate change consultancy actually does
A climate change consultancy answers two different questions, and a good brief says which one you are buying.
The first is what climate change, and the world’s response to it, could do to your organisation: climate risk, scenario analysis and adaptation.
Read the detailed guidance and references
A climate brief
Mitigation
The organisation’s own transition: targets, actions and resources set out in a transition plan, and the projects that deliver it.
UK SRS S2 ¶14(a)(iv), Appendix AThe second is what the organisation will do about its own emissions: mitigation, held together in a transition plan.
The same scenarios and emissions data feed both, which is why one climate consultancy often bids for both.
The on-site projects behind a plan, such as heat, fleet and power, are covered on decarbonisation consultancy, and targets on net zero consultancy.
Stage 1 of 6
Identify
Describe each risk and opportunity, say whether a risk is physical or transition, and give the time horizon.
Risk in, plans outExplore
Module 01 / 04
Identify
Physical and transition risks, with time horizons.
Module 02 / 04
Test
Scenario analysis of the strategy's resilience.
Module 03 / 04
Plan
Adaptation for physical risk; a transition plan for emissions.
Module 04 / 04
Disclose
The rule that applies, written up.
Climate risk
Physical and transition risk, risk by risk
UK SRS S2 asks for each climate-related risk to be classed as a physical risk or a transition risk, at paragraph 10(b).
It also asks over which time horizon each effect could occur, and how the entity defines short, medium and long term against its own planning horizons, at paragraph 10(c) and (d).
Read the detailed guidance and references
Those last two limbs are the ones climate risk work most often drops, so ask a consultant to show them in the risk register.
The metrics follow the same split: the amount and percentage of assets or business activities vulnerable to transition risks, and to physical risks, at paragraph 29(b) and (c).
Physical risk is usually local, so a climate risk consultancy should name its hazard data and the resolution it was run at.
The Met Office’s UKCP18 provides UK climate model projections, and the Environment Agency’s long-term flood risk service gives the risk of an area, not a specific property.
The full paragraph map is on the UK SRS S2 guide.
Classify every riskExplore
Module 01 / 04
Physical
Acute events and chronic shifts in climate.
Module 02 / 04
Transition
Policy, legal, technology and market change.
Module 03 / 04
Horizon
Short, medium or long term.
Module 04 / 04
Planning
Horizons tied to your own planning cycle.
Scenario analysis
Scenario analysis and climate resilience
UK SRS S2 paragraph 22 reads: “The entity shall use climate-related scenario analysis to assess its climate resilience using an approach that is commensurate with the entity’s circumstances.”
What scales with the entity is the method, not the duty: an entity highly exposed to climate risk, and with the resources, is required to use a more advanced quantitative approach under ¶B17.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The analysis can follow a multi-year planning cycle, but ¶B18 says “an assessment of the entity’s resilience is required to be carried out annually”.
The disclosure asks which scenarios were used and their sources, the key assumptions, and the reporting period in which the analysis was carried out, at ¶22(b).
The TCFD’s 2020 guidance on scenario analysis is still the most-used method note, and it is guidance from a disbanded body, never a requirement.
For the UK, the Climate Change Committee’s technical report for CCRA4 used a central case reaching about 2°C of warming by 2050 and a high case reaching up to 4°C by 2100, which is a useful published pair to compare against, according to the CCRA4-IA Technical Report.
Ask a climate consultant which scenarios they propose, why those, and what the board is expected to decide differently as a result.
What paragraph 22(b) asks you to disclose about scenario analysis
Step 1 of 4
Which scenarios
The scenarios used and their sources, and whether they cover transition or physical risk, or both.
UK SRS S2 ¶22(b)(i)Why those
Why they are relevant, and whether one aligns with the latest international agreement on climate change.
UK SRS S2 ¶22(b)(i)Key assumptions
Assumptions such as climate policy, macroeconomic trends, national or regional variables, energy use and mix, and technology.
UK SRS S2 ¶22(b)(ii)Commensurate, not optionalExplore
Module 01 / 04
Inputs
Which scenarios, from where, and why.
Module 02 / 04
Assumptions
The key assumptions and variables.
Module 03 / 04
Timing
When the analysis was carried out.
Module 04 / 04
Resilience
Assessed every year.
TCFD
TCFD consultancy after 2023
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures disbanded on 12 October 2023, and the FSB asked the IFRS Foundation to take over monitoring of companies’ climate disclosures, according to the Financial Stability Board.
Its 2017 Final Report set four recommendations and eleven recommended disclosures beneath them, at Figure 4.
Read the detailed guidance and references
That structure survives in three UK places: the Companies Act climate disclosures, the pension scheme regulations and UK SRS S2, which builds on it.
So a buyer looking for TCFD consultants today is usually buying one of those three, and the brief should name which.
The IFRS Foundation’s TCFD page describes the hand-over, and the recommendations remain online.
The framework itself is explained on the TCFD framework guide.
Four pillars, eleven disclosuresExplore
Module 01 / 04
Governance
Two recommended disclosures.
Module 02 / 04
Strategy
Three, including resilience under scenarios.
Module 03 / 04
Risk management
Three.
Module 04 / 04
Metrics and targets
Three.
Who has to
Which rules ask for climate change consulting
Three UK regimes ask for TCFD-shaped climate work, and each reaches a different population.
For listed companies, the FCA’s PS26/19 sets comply-or-explain reporting against UK SRS S1 and S2 for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.
Read the detailed guidance and references
| Regime | Who | What the climate work must produce | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK SRS via the Listing Rules | Companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 | UK SRS S1 and S2 disclosures, or an explanation of what is missing | FCA PS26/19; UKLR 6.6.6R(7A)–(7B) |
| Climate-related financial disclosures | UK companies with over 500 employees and over £500m turnover, and certain others | Eight disclosures, including resilience under different climate scenarios | CA 2006 s.414CB(2A)(a)–(h) |
| Pension scheme climate reporting | Trustees of schemes with £1bn or more, authorised master trusts and CDC schemes | Governance, scenario analysis, metrics, a target and a published report | SI 2021/839 |
| Adaptation reporting | Public bodies and statutory undertakers invited by Defra | A climate risk assessment and adaptation action plan | Climate Change Act 2008 s.62 |
The government has confirmed that UK SRS S2 is a national reporting framework for the Companies Act, so a company reporting under it need not duplicate its climate disclosures, according to the DBT consultation response.
Pension trustees must run scenario analysis in the first scheme year the duties apply and at least every three scheme years after, under DWP’s statutory guidance.
UK SRS is not “mandatory” for listed companies: the rule is disclose, or explain what is missing and why.
The company-law regime is on climate-related financial disclosures, and the trustee rules on pension scheme climate reporting.
Three regimes, one structureExplore
Module 01 / 04
Listed companies
UK SRS, comply or explain, from 2027.
Module 02 / 04
Large companies
Companies Act climate disclosures.
Module 03 / 04
Pension schemes
Trustee governance and reporting.
Module 04 / 04
Everyone else
Driven by lenders and customers.
Adaptation
Climate adaptation consultancy and the UK risk cycle
Section 62 of the Climate Change Act 2008 lets the Secretary of State direct a reporting authority to report on “the current and predicted impact of climate change in relation to the authority’s functions” and its proposals for adapting, under section 62(1).
Defra says “The power was used in the first round of reporting but it has been voluntary since then”, in its fourth round guidance summary.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The fourth round closed on 31 December 2024, with invited reports from sectors including energy, water, telecoms, transport and finance, and a pilot with local government, according to the same guidance; the reports are published in the fourth round reports collection.
Defra expects the fifth round to start in late 2026 and run until late 2029.
Section 56 requires a UK climate change risk assessment every five years, and the third was published on 17 January 2022, according to Defra.
The Climate Change Committee published its independent assessment for the fourth on 20 May 2026, and says the government must lay its assessment before Parliament by January 2027, in A Well-Adapted UK.
The accompanying technical report identifies 41 risks and 2 opportunities across the four nations, so a climate adaptation consultancy citing the 2017 assessment is two cycles out of date.
- 2023NAP3 and the fourth reporting strategyThe government’s response to 61 risks and opportunities, with the strategy for the fourth round of adaptation reporting.NAP3
- 31 December 2024ARP4 reporting closedInvited reports from energy, water, transport, finance and other sectors, and a local authority pilot.Defra
- 20 May 2026CCRA4 independent assessmentThe Climate Change Committee’s advice: 41 risks and 2 opportunities.Climate Change Committee
- By January 2027CCRA4 to be laidThe government’s fourth risk assessment, per the Committee.Climate Change Committee
A five-year national cycleExplore
Module 01 / 04
Assess
CCRA every five years.
Module 02 / 04
Advise
The Committee's independent assessment.
Module 03 / 04
Plan
A National Adaptation Programme.
Module 04 / 04
Report
Invited reports from key sectors.
Mitigation
Transition plan consultancy: disclosure, not a duty
UK SRS S2 asks for information about “any climate-related transition plan the entity has”, including key assumptions and dependencies, at ¶14(a)(iv).
The FCA’s PS26/19 states at ¶2.36 that UK SRS S2 does not require entities to have a climate-related transition plan.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Companies in UKLR 6, 16 and 22 must state whether they have published a plan and where, or why not, under UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e).
The government’s consultation on transition plan requirements closed on 17 September 2025, and on 11 October 2026 its page still offered no outcome.
The Transition Plan Taskforce disbanded in October 2024, and its Disclosure Framework is hosted by the IFRS Foundation under a notice that the Foundation is not responsible for its accuracy.
The IFRS Foundation’s guidance of 23 June 2025 says it does not add to or change the requirements in IFRS S2.
The reporting side is on UK SRS transition plans, and the content of a plan on the climate transition plan guide.
Describe the plan you haveExplore
Module 01 / 04
Targets
What the plan aims at.
Module 02 / 04
Actions
What changes and when.
Module 03 / 04
Resources
Money and people behind it.
Module 04 / 04
Dependencies
What it relies on.
Before you call anyone
Briefing a climate change consultancy
Brief a climate change consultancy with the rule that reaches you, the assets you depend on and what you already have, because those decide the work.
Answer the four questions and the panel lists the workstreams, each with the rule or source behind it.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Attach any TCFD report, risk register or emissions inventory you already have, so nobody is paid to rebuild it.
Which climate work do you need?
Disclosure basis
From accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 you report against UK SRS S1 and S2 on a comply-or-explain basis: disclose, or say what is missing, why and what you are doing about it.
FCA PS26/19; UKLR 6.6.6R(7A)–(7B)
Scenario analysis
Paragraph 22 requires climate-related scenario analysis commensurate with your circumstances; it may follow your planning cycle, but the resilience assessment is annual.
UK SRS S2 ¶22, ¶B18
Physical risk and adaptation
Map sites and suppliers against heat, flood and water hazards using UK projections, then decide which risks need an adaptation plan with owners and dates.
Met Office UKCP18; Environment Agency long-term flood risk service (area, not property)
Transition plan
No UK rule requires you to have one; the government consulted in 2025 and has published no outcome, so a plan written now is voluntary.
DESNZ transition plan consultation (closed 17 September 2025)
Existing TCFD report
Start from it: TCFD’s four pillars and eleven recommended disclosures map onto UK SRS S2, which goes further on scenario analysis and metrics.
TCFD Final Report (2017), Figure 4; UK SRS S2
A scoping aid that gives no legal advice and names no firm.
Nothing you choose is stored or sent.
A scope worth pricingExplore
Module 01 / 04
Rule
Name the regime that applies, or say none does.
Module 02 / 04
Scope
Sites, suppliers and business lines covered.
Module 03 / 04
Method
Scenarios, data and time horizons.
Module 04 / 04
Outputs
Register, analysis, plan and draft disclosure.
Which kind of help
Climate consultants, or another kind?
Climate consultants, decarbonisation engineers and reporting advisers overlap, but they are bought for different outputs.
The table sets the question each one answers beside the output you should expect.
Read the detailed guidance and references
| Climate change consultancy | Decarbonisation consultancy | Sustainability reporting consultancy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question | What could climate change do to us, and what is our transition? | What do we change on site, and in what order? | What must the annual report say? |
| Typical buyer | Risk, strategy, company secretary, trustees | Estates, operations, energy manager | Finance, company secretary |
| Outputs | Risk register, scenario analysis, adaptation plan, transition plan | Audits, project cases, delivery sequence | Drafted disclosures and a data trail |
| Rules most often met | UK SRS S2 ¶¶10, 22, 14(a)(iv); s.414CB; SI 2021/839 | ESOS, MEES, Scope 2 methods | UK SRS, SECR, s.414CB |
If the annual report is the deliverable, read the guide to sustainability reporting consultants.
If you want firms listed alphabetically from their own descriptions, see the unranked directory of sustainability consulting firms.
Buy the right briefExplore
Module 01 / 04
Climate
Risk, scenarios, adaptation, plans.
Module 02 / 04
Decarbonisation
Projects on site.
Module 03 / 04
Net zero
Targets and pathways.
Module 04 / 04
Reporting
Drafting the annual report.
Due diligence
What to ask a climate consultancy before you appoint
Which scenarios and hazard datasets will the climate consultancy use, and why are they relevant to your sites and markets?
Which of the four regimes above is the work written for, and does the proposal describe it accurately?
Read the detailed guidance and references
A proposal that calls UK SRS mandatory, or says the TCFD still sets requirements, is overstating the law.
A proposal that says the UK requires a transition plan is describing an unanswered consultation, not a rule.
Who owns the scenario models, the hazard maps and the risk register at the end, and can your team rerun them next year?
The broader process is in choosing a sustainability consultant.
What this page does not do
It names no firm, quotes no price, ranks nobody and describes no consultancy as assessed.
Test the proposalExplore
Module 01 / 04
Data
Which hazard data, at what resolution?
Module 02 / 04
Scenarios
Which, and why those?
Module 03 / 04
Decision
What will the board decide differently?
Module 04 / 04
Handover
Who owns the models?
Illustrative brief · no consultancy assessed
A worked brief: a listed manufacturer’s first S2 report
A manufacturer in UKLR 6 with plants on two river floodplains wants help with its first UK SRS S2 report for 2027.
The brief asks for a risk register to ¶10, scenario analysis to ¶22, the ¶29(b)–(c) metrics, and a statement under UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e) on whether a transition plan is published.
View the workflow diagram
- 1
Risks
Classify each as physical or transition, with horizons tied to the planning cycle.
- 2
Scenarios
Two or more, with sources, assumptions and the period run.
- 3
Plans
Adaptation for material physical risk; describe any transition plan.
Each date has a different meaning
The relevant dates, in order
Check who each date applies to and whether it is a rule, a publication or an expected start.
- 12 October 202301
TCFD disbanded
Monitoring of climate disclosure moves to the IFRS Foundation from 2024. - 31 December 202402
- 17 September 202503
Transition plan consultation closed
No outcome published as at 11 October 2026. - 20 May 202604
CCRA4 independent assessment
The Climate Change Committee’s advice to government. - Late 202605
- 1 January 202706
UK SRS for listed companies
Comply or explain for periods beginning on or after this date. - By January 202707
A suggested delivery sequence
From the brief to the disclosure
This is an editorial buying and preparation sequence, not a statutory timetable or a promise about how long the engagement takes.
- 01 / Scope01
Scope
Name the rule that applies, the entities, sites and value chain covered. - 02 / Risks02
Risks
Build the register: physical or transition, horizon, likelihood and effect. - 03 / Scenarios03
Scenarios
Choose scenarios, run the analysis and record assumptions. - 04 / Plans04
Plans
Decide adaptation actions and describe any transition plan. - 05 / Disclose05
Disclose
Draft the disclosure and agree who reruns it next year.
Frequently asked
Climate change consultants, answered
What does a climate change consultant do?
A climate change consultant helps an organisation understand how climate change affects it and how it affects the climate: identifying physical and transition risks, running scenario analysis, writing the climate disclosures a rule asks for, planning adaptation, and drafting a transition plan.
Decarbonisation projects on site are usually a separate engineering brief.
What is the difference between climate risk work and transition planning?
Climate risk work asks what climate change and the response to it could do to the organisation, which UK SRS S2 calls physical and transition risk.
Transition planning asks what the organisation will do to move towards a lower-carbon economy.
They share data and scenarios but answer different questions and are often bought from different teams.
Is TCFD still required in the UK?
The Task Force disbanded on 12 October 2023, and monitoring of climate disclosure moved to the IFRS Foundation from 2024.
Its structure survives in UK law in the Companies Act climate disclosures and the pension scheme regulations, and for listed companies the FCA has replaced the TCFD rule with comply-or-explain reporting against UK SRS from 2027.
Is UK SRS S2 mandatory?
Not as such.
Under FCA PS26/19, companies in UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22 report against UK SRS S1 and S2 on a comply-or-explain basis for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027: they disclose, or say what is missing, why and what they are doing about it.
Do we have to do scenario analysis?
UK SRS S2 paragraph 22 requires scenario analysis to assess climate resilience, using an approach commensurate with the entity’s circumstances, and the resilience assessment is annual.
The Companies Act asks for an analysis of resilience taking different scenarios into consideration, and pension trustees must run it in the first scheme year and at least every three scheme years.
What is the adaptation reporting power?
Section 62 of the Climate Change Act 2008 lets the Secretary of State direct a public body or statutory undertaker to report on climate impacts on its functions and its plans to adapt.
Defra says the power was used in the first round and reporting has been voluntary since then; the fifth round is expected to start in late 2026.
Do we need a transition plan?
No UK rule requires one.
UK SRS S2 asks you to describe any transition plan you have, and companies in UKLR 6, 16 and 22 must say whether one is published and where.
The government consulted on transition plan requirements in 2025 and, as at 11 October 2026, had not published an outcome.
Which climate data should a consultant use for UK physical risk?
The Met Office’s UKCP18 projections are the UK’s climate model projections, and the Environment Agency’s long-term flood risk service gives the risk of an area, not a specific property.
UK SRS S2 names no dataset; it asks which scenarios and variables were used and why.
How much does climate change consultancy cost?
This site publishes no prices and has assessed no consultancy.
Ask each firm for days by grade, the deliverables named, which scenarios and data it will use, and who owns the models at the end.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
Checked against 21 sources fromDepartment for Business and TradeFinancial Conduct AuthorityTask Force on Climate-related Financial DisclosuresFinancial Stability Boardlegislation.gov.ukDepartment for Work and Pensions
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (PDF), ¶¶10, 14(a)(iv), 22, 29, B17–B18
Physical and transition risk; scenario analysis; an annual resilience assessment; any transition plan the entity has.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19: aligning listed issuers’ sustainability disclosures with international standards
Comply or explain against UK SRS for UKLR 6, 14, 15, 16 and 22, periods from 1 January 2027.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 (PDF), ¶2.36
“UK SRS S2 does not require entities to have a climate-related transition plan.”
- Financial Conduct AuthorityFCA Handbook, UKLR 6.6
The transition plan statement, UKLR 6.6.6R(8)(e).
- Task Force on Climate-related Financial DisclosuresFinal Report (June 2017), Figure 4
Four recommendations and eleven recommended disclosures.
- Financial Stability BoardFSB publishes annual progress report on climate-related disclosures (12 October 2023)
The TCFD’s final task; the Task Force disbanded.
- Task Force on Climate-related Financial DisclosuresGuidance on Scenario Analysis for Non-Financial Companies (October 2020)
Practice guidance from a disbanded body; never a requirement.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 414CB
The eight climate-related financial disclosures, s.414CB(2A)(a)–(h).
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS consultation response (February 2026), Chapter 3
UK SRS S2 is a national reporting framework for s.414CB(6).
- legislation.gov.ukThe Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/839)
Trustee duties for schemes of £1bn and more, master trusts and CDC schemes.
- Department for Work and PensionsGovernance and reporting of climate change risk: guidance for trustees of occupational schemes, ¶¶84, 118
Scenario analysis in the first scheme year and at least every three scheme years.
- legislation.gov.ukClimate Change Act 2008, section 62
Directions to reporting authorities to prepare adaptation reports.
- legislation.gov.ukClimate Change Act 2008, section 56
The five-yearly report on the risks of climate change for the UK.
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsClimate change adaptation reporting: fourth round guidance summary
Voluntary since the first round; ARP4 closed 31 December 2024; ARP5 expected late 2026 to late 2029.
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural AffairsUK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2022
The third five-year assessment under the Climate Change Act.
- Climate Change CommitteeA Well-Adapted UK: the Fourth Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk (20 May 2026)
Advice for CCRA4, which government must lay by January 2027.
- Met Office (for the Climate Change Committee)CCRA4-IA Technical Report (May 2026)
41 risks and 2 opportunities across the four nations.
- Met OfficeUK Climate Projections (UKCP18)
Climate model projections for the UK.
- Environment AgencyCheck your long term flood risk
The risk of an area, not a specific property.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroClimate-related transition plan requirements (consultation)
Closed 17 September 2025; no outcome published as at 11 October 2026.
- Transition Plan Taskforce (archived by the IFRS Foundation)TPT Disclosure Framework (October 2023)
Voluntary guidance; the Taskforce disbanded in October 2024.
Continue reading
Read next
Standard
UK SRS S2
The climate standard, paragraph by paragraph.
Framework
The TCFD framework
Four pillars, eleven disclosures, and where they live now.
Company law
Climate-related financial disclosures
The Companies Act’s eight climate disclosures.
Pensions
Pension scheme climate reporting
Trustee duties under SI 2021/839.
Mitigation
Climate transition plans
What goes in a plan, and who asks for one.
Delivery
Decarbonisation consultancy
The on-site projects behind a transition plan.