Ensuring that your organisation achieves its decarbonisation goals in the short, medium and long term requires continuous engagement with the different aspects of the decarbonisation journey, from targets to actions. Decarbonisation should be seen as a continuous journey of transformation and adaptation where targets and actions, as well as the progress made towards them, need to be regularly assessed. This means reviewing existing targets and actions while keeping up to date with developments in the decarbonisation landscape and assessing the utility of new technologies and approaches.

To embrace the concept of continuous decarbonisation, consider establishing a cadence for regular reviews. Ideally, this would be quarterly with a special annual review, which also looks at the wider sustainability journey, including improvements to data collection and other processes. Such reviews should involve all relevant stakeholders, including leadership champions, dedicated sustainability leads and decarbonisation action implementers.

The review process could involve the following approach.

At the start of each cycle, reflect on the progress made in the previous period. What worked well? What challenges were encountered? What lessons were learned? Focus on why things have unfolded as they have in order to help you uncover the underlying root causes. For instance, using causal diagrams, such as Ishikawa diagrams, can help locate the causes of success or failure for specific actions and targets.

This introspection phase sets the stage for informed decision-making.

Using the Plan A Action Plan, review the list of actions your team has decided to implement. Review the status of each action's implementation (whether it's still planned, in progress, on hold, or completed), how the implementation process has progressed, the adoption rate of the action (for processes and incentives), and what impact the action has had on emissions so far.

Action-specific reviews should examine what challenges have been faced in implementation, what cross-team collaboration was required, and what learnings can be drawn for implementing future actions.

The aim of decarbonisation is to see your organisation's emissions reduce over time. Progress can be continuously monitored using the Analytics and Measure pages. Whilst the Analytics page will show your progress towards targets, the Measure page will allow you to examine progress on individual emission categories on a more granular level.

Target-specific reviews should look at progress towards achieving overall and specific targets. Here, examining the speed of emission reductions and alignment with targets is important. However, understanding which emissions categories are declining significantly enough and which require additional interventions is also critical.

The route to decarbonisation can be planned, but the path is laid along the way. Success requires a dynamic plan that reflects present opportunities and challenges.

Stay flexible and adaptable as the decarbonisation landscape evolves. As new challenges and opportunities arise, be ready to adjust strategies, adopt new technologies, and refine processes.

With a deeper understanding of your organisation's decarbonisation journey and its capacity to continue along its determined pathway, set updated targets that reflect current circumstances, emerging opportunities, and regulatory changes. These targets should be ambitious yet achievable, driving the organisation towards long-term sustainability goals.

Note that science-based targets are less flexible, and, generally speaking, ambition should be increased where possible rather than reduced.

Transparency and accountability are critical drivers of successful decarbonisation. Share your achievements with stakeholders to maintain their commitment and support.

Whilst annual progress can be published in a sustainability report, small wins are just as important to communicate, from highlighting the successful implementation of a decarbonisation action to celebrating teams with high uptake of decarbonisation initiatives (such as cycle-to-work schemes).

This process is cyclical, meaning that a regular cadence for review should be maintained. To be successful in reaching net-zero, the cycle of reflection, refinement, and reporting needs to become ingrained in your organisation's DNA.

The review process, however, should also be continuous. This means that progress should be monitored throughout the cycle using the tools available on the Measure, Action Plan, and Analytics pages continuously rather than waiting for quarterly reviews. This will help you spot challenges early and address them effectively.