The Climate Expert

The Climate Expert is a five-volume primer series for young professionals working in climate, sustainability, and ESG. Each volume covers one region of the field in plain language: how it works, where it came from, what the law says, and what a careful professional should doubt. The series is published by Climate Expert Publication, an editorial collective committed to unbiased, knowledge-based information for students, young professionals, and everyone.

This volume covers what organisations do inside that split: how to set a credible target, construct a transition plan, use carbon markets without acquiring unquantifiable liability, decarbonise a supply chain, and account for the workers who bear the cost of that transition.

Inside this volume:

• Transition planning frameworks in force: the TPT Disclosure Framework, IFRS S2's strategy and transition pillar, ESRS E1-1's transition plan requirement, and GFANZ guidance for financial institutions after the 2024 restructure
• SBTi validation mechanics - what the Corporate Net-Zero Standard V1.3 requires, how the April 2024 board statement triggered a staff revolt, what the November 2024 reversal restored, and what V2.0's "focused and flexible" Scope 3 framework proposes for targets mandatory from 1 January 2028
• Compliance carbon markets as binding financial obligations: EU ETS Phase 4, UK ETS, China's national ETS, RGGI, and CBAM's definitive period - certificate surrender obligations, embedded-carbon pricing, and supply-chain procurement implications from 1 January 2026
• Voluntary carbon markets after the integrity reset: Article 6.2 ITMOs and the Article 6.4 Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (standards adopted October 2024, noted at COP29 November 2024), the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, and the VCMI Claims Code - held apart from compliance markets throughout
• Financed emissions and the financial-institution layer: PCAF methodology, the NZAOA Target-Setting Protocol (the most detailed surviving protocol in the ecosystem), and what target-setting looks like for a bank in 2026 without a functioning alliance
• Supply-chain decarbonisation and Scope 3 engagement: GHG Protocol Category 15 (investments), Category 11 (use of sold products), and the practical limit of what value-chain engagement can achieve under time-bound SBTi obligations
• Just transition - what the term means in practice

Who this book is for:

• Strategy and sustainability professionals at companies with disclosed or forthcoming emissions targets who need to understand SBTi validation, transition plan requirements, and what CBAM obligations mean for procurement
• Treasury, risk, and investor-relations staff at financial institutions managing financed-emissions disclosures after the NZBA and NZAM retreats
• Policy and government-affairs readers briefing executives on what Article 6.4 delivers, why CBAM generates trade friction, and what remains of CSDDD's transition-plan obligation after Omnibus I
• MBA and master's students in sustainable finance, climate strategy, or corporate environmental governance where current textbooks predate the 2024-2026 regulatory consolidation

Part of The Climate Expert series:

• Volume I: Foundations
• Volume II: Climate Risk
• Volume III: ESG Reporting and Disclosure
• Volume IV: Climate Law and Policy
• Volume V: Net Zero Strategy

Published by Climate Expert Publication.