Centre overview

What we do

The TPI Centre’s work equips investors, policymakers and civil society with the insights needed to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. The TPI Centre assesses publicly-listed companies, including those in the focus list of the Climate Action 100+ initiative, plus banks and sovereign bond issuers, on their progress in the transition. We are the academic partner of the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), a global initiative led by asset owners and supported by asset managers. We use the TPI tool which covers 2,000 companies across 24 sectors. We are also the academic research expert for the ASCOR initiative which reviews sovereign transitions and whose coverage is 85 countries.

The TPI Centre develops and applies transparent methodologies to assess climate transition performance across asset classes, sectors and geographies. We apply these methodologies to assess entities annually, generating high-quality data and insights. Transparency is a core principle of our work: our methodologies and datasets are publicly available and support broad use across financial markets and beyond.

We assess entities using complementary frameworks on corporates, banks and sovereigns, which together deliver a joined-up diagnostic to understand the state of the low-carbon transition around the world.

Our research and data also underpin extensive market outreach and capacity building. Through public webinars, lectures, workshops, roundtables and bilateral engagement, we support financial market participants and other stakeholders in embedding transition considerations into decision-making.

Based within the Global School of Sustainability (GSoS) at LSE, the Centre focuses on a critical agenda and intersects with the GSoS research themes.

Real-world use

TPI Centre outputs are adopted in practical applications by a range of stakeholders:

• Investor community: Asset owners, asset managers and investor networks use our data to integrate climate change into their investment processes (see investor case studies).
• Assessed entities: Corporates, banks and sovereigns use our data to understand, benchmark and communicate their own climate performance.
• Wider ecosystem: Policymakers, regulators, standard setters, academia, non-governmental organisation (NGOs) and multilateral organisations cite our methodologies and are finding new ways to apply our data.

This broad adoption reflects the Centre’s role in supporting transparency, comparability and informed decision-making across stakeholders.

Our unique collaboration with the financial sector

As the academic partner of TPI and the academic research expert for the ASCOR, we develop the methodologies and curate the data tools, while TPI and ASCOR represent the investor community and focus on driving adoption across the financial system.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) is TPI’s data partner and conducts the Management Quality assessments. Management Quality and Carbon Performance data are at the core of FTSE Russell's TPI Climate Transition Index Series, demonstrating how our research and data are being embedded in financial markets to facilitate transition finance flows.

Governance

The TPI Centre operates under a governance structure designed to ensure independence, academic integrity and technical excellence. This includes:

• Advisory Board, whose role is to advise on the TPI Centre’s strategic direction and policy matters. (Chair: Professor David Webb)
• Resource and Development Committee, whose role is to advise on the financial sustainability of the TPI Centre. (Chair: Professor David Webb)
• Technical Advisory Board, whose role is to conduct methodology reviews and provide technical advice on its research outputs. (Chair: Professor Simon Dietz)
• Management Committee, whose role is to oversee the TPI Centre’s research and operational running. (Chair: Dr Carmen Nuzzo)

These bodies oversee research direction, methodology development and operational delivery.

Origins

LSE established the TPI Centre in 2022 to expand the existing academic team working with the Transition Pathway Initiative, in response to TPI’s impact and success. TPI was launched in 2017, then covering 40 oil & gas and electricity companies, by a group of asset owners, with the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE as its academic partner and FTSE Russell (an LSEG business) as its data partner. The launch of the TPI Centre was supported by TPI Ltd.[1], Climate Arc, LSEG Foundation and FTSE Russell.

Read more about the Transition Pathway Initiative here.

Code of conduct

The TPI Centre follows the guidelines of the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Code of Conduct for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Ratings and Data Products Providers. It also adheres to the Hong Kong Code of Conduct for ESG Ratings and Data Product Providers.

This document outlines the TPI Centre’s governance arrangements, policies on transparency, quality assurance and conflict‑of‑interest management, and provides assurance to users that TPI Centre data are produced in line with recognised best‑practice standards.

[1] Since 14 October 2021, TPI has been registered as Transition Pathway Initiative Ltd. by the UK’s Companies House.