The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), together with other members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG), has today launched a public consultation on draft “Principles for Climate Transition Planning” (the Principles). This marks a further step in the SFWG’s ongoing efforts to enhance the UAE’s sustainable finance ecosystem.

The draft Principles are designed to help financial institutions develop credible, transparent, and effective climate transition plans. These plans are forward-looking strategies that align an organisation’s objectives, governance, risk management, and operations with their climate goals. The draft Principles cover eight key areas: setting transition objectives; governance; integration into strategy and risk management; metrics and targets; data and customer engagement; reporting and transparency; implementation; and review and updates.

The proposed Principles are intended to apply proportionately across a wide range of financial institutions and are designed to remain flexible and forward-looking to reflect the evolving nature of global standards. By embedding climate risks and opportunities into financial decision-making, transition planning enhances firms’ risk management, informs strategic and product development, and supports broader climate policy objectives.

How to submit feedback

The consultation is open to all the DFSA’s stakeholders. Feedback is particularly welcomed from firms developing or enhancing their transition plans, as well as firms already engaged in climate-related risk management and disclosure practices.

• To read the draft Principles, click here.
• To submit your feedback, click here. The deadline for submissions is close of business on 16 July 2025.

About the UAE Sustainable Finance Working Group

The SFWG was established in 2019 to support the UAE’s economic transition to address climate change and encourage the adoption of best practices around sustainability at the national level, aligned with the UAE’s Green Agenda 2015–2030. Its members include:

• Financial regulators – Central Bank of the UAE, Securities and Commodities Authority, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market, Dubai Financial Services Authority;
• Ministries – Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Ministry of Economy, the Office of the UAE's Special Envoy for Climate Change; and
• UAE exchanges – Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, and Nasdaq Dubai.

Since its inception in 2019, the SFWG has issued several key publications:

• Guiding Principles on Sustainable Finance in the UAE (2020), committing to developing standards for the financial sector to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into corporate governance, strategy, and risk management.
• Principles for the Effective Management of Climate-related Financial Risks (2023), addressing the oversight and allocation of responsibilities for climate-related financial risks, their integration into strategy-setting, risk management frameworks, capital and liquidity planning, and scenario analysis exercises; and
• Principles for Sustainability-related Disclosures (2024), supporting financial firms in the UAE in preparing high-quality and relevant sustainability disclosures.