With the conclusion of COP 28 in Dubai, and AEFR having just published its latest debate paper on transition plans, we have decided to open 2024 by highlighting what will be one of the central issues of the year: the implementation of CSRD and the establishment of transition plans.

With this in mind, the seminar will open with a review of COP28, before focusing on transition plans, from the European legislative overview to their uses and objectives, and the process by which they are drawn up.   

While it seems increasingly necessary to draw up transition plans, there is sometimes a great deal of confusion between the various legislative texts and/or private initiatives that frame or inspire them, the form they should take and the concrete elements they should include. Similarly, the players for whom they are intended are still sometimes poorly identified. In its debate paper, published in November 2023, AEFR proposes to answer these questions by focusing on 3 main areas: the content and form of a transition plan (a), the processes involved in drawing them up (b), and finally their proper use in order to make them a useful tool for financing the ecological transition.

If the transition plans are to be a real tool in the service of the ecological transition and not just a mere communication tool, they need to share a common architecture. 

This raises many questions. Who are the players involved? What objectives should be pursued, how should environmental impact be defined, and what level of information should be provided? Should the transition plan be certified by a third party to reinforce its credibility? These are just some of the issues that will be discussed this morning. 

Programme:

Transition plans: a concrete prefiguration of the transition to be achieved? 

Introduction 

• Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, seconde-gouverneure, Banque de France

Return from the COP: observations and conclusions

• Matteo Le Hérissé, Green finance Advisory, co-rapporteur of the AEFR working group on Transition plans / sustainable finance Consultant, PwC, (modérateur)
• Jean- Christophe Long, International strategy consultant

Panel 1: What is the legislative landscape, what are the private initiatives and what is the current practice of transition planning?

• Rami Feghali, Head of Risk services and Regulatory Partner, co-rapporteur of the AEFR working group on transition plans, PwC (moderator)
• Nicolas Dufourcq, Chief Executive Officer, BPI
• Mathieu Garnero, Project Director, ADEME
• Sven Gentner, DG FISMA, Head of unit, European Commission
• Frida Mekoui,  Director- stratégie réglementaire affaires publiques, finance durable, Société Générale
  

Panel 2: Transition plan process and framework

• Véronique Ormezzano, Co-chair of the AEFR working group on transition plans, VYGE Consulting (moderator)
• Alice Carr, Executive Director, Public Policy and JETPs, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)
• Pascal Durand, member of ECON Committee, rapporteur for CSRD, MEP
• Fabien Le Tennier, Policy expert Sustainable Finance, ESG Risk Unit, EBA
• Ira Poensgen, Transition Plan Taskforce Secretariat, Technical Lead ; deputy Head of Policy, Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI)

Panel 3: The future of the transition plan and the transition plan of the future: what are the ideal developments? 

• Pervenche Berès, President, co-chair of the AEFR working group on transition plans, AEFR 
• Jean Boissinot, Deputy director, Financal Stability | Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) / Head of Secretariat, Banque de France
• Patrick de Cambourg, Chair of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, EFRAG
• Benjamin Dartevelle, Head of the Sustainable Finance, Corporate Law, Accounting Standards and Corporate Governance Unit, French Treasury