Maturity & Momentum (M2) Model

Maturity is the measure of an organization’s capacity for innovation and continuous improvement of core business processes and disciplines. Increasing maturity reflects the capability to drive long-term deep decarbonization in processes, products, and operations across all relevant scopes. The higher the level of maturity on Climate Impact, the greater the likelihood of an organization gaining a maximum advantage for itself and key stakeholders. Momentum is the measure of the rate of change of Maturity over time.

The Climate Impact Maturity Curve follows from the more general sustainability maturity model. Companies can be classified as located at a point in time along a curve demarcated by four stages (and additional sub-stages) as summarized here:

• Stage 1: Initial Engagement – The firm engages on the issue of climate change with relevant policy, procedures, and/or broad statements of intent.

• Stage 2: Systematic Management – The firm undertakes systematic management of the issue of climate change by assessing and reporting facts relevant to its operations and impacts (e.g. GHG reporting, initial goal setting, and assessment of its performance relative to peers and/or universal standards). Initial proof-of-concept demonstrations of change pathways provide a business case for advancing up the curve.

• Stage 3: Transforming the Core – The firm demonstrates meaningful progress and scalable plans for transforming key processes, products, and/or systems needed to optimize on a low-carbon value proposition. Target setting expands in scope and time frame, ultimately consistent with the goal of reducing anthropogenic impacts quickly enough to avoid the most serious effects of climate disruption (e.g., in line with IEA 2-degree emissions guidance or Science Base Goals).

• Step 4: Competitive Differentiation – The firm is successfully executing strategies that create competitive differentiation and the potential for competitive advantage through low carbon innovations in products and/or processes that generate material improvements in cost structure, revenue growth, and/or business model strength. The firm has built the capacity for continuous improvement of the low-carbon value proposition over time, including across transitions in management. Corporate culture drives progress.