Explore the strategic opportunity: What can you see that your competitors have missed?.
A business can recognise a valuable opportunity through climate transition and still lack the conditions needed to deliver it. Investment depends on people, finance, technology, customers, suppliers and infrastructure. Some conditions are within the business's control. Others depend on partners, institutions or wider markets.
Leaders can strengthen their capacity to act by identifying these dependencies early, developing internal capabilities and engaging with the organisations that can help. The practical question is which conditions matter most to enterprise performance and how to improve them.
Seven lenses for enabling transition
The following lenses are drawn from Stella Whittaker's adaptation of the CLIMATEFIT Maturity Assessment Model, referenced in Performance or Compliance: your approach to climate risk matters. Each question pairs an external enabling condition with the corresponding capability the business can develop to respond to, influence or make use of it.
How could changing climate conditions affect our assets, operations, customers and suppliers? What ability do we have to recognise exposure early, adapt services and protect enterprise value?
How do competitors, customers and suppliers shape our options? Which relationships and negotiating capabilities could help us influence industry practices and develop new opportunities?
Which policies, standards, incentives and industry roadmaps affect our choices? How well can we anticipate changes and adapt our own policies, standards and decisions to respond?
How are customer, lender and insurer expectations changing? Do we have the commercial intelligence, investment discipline and financial flexibility to respond and pursue opportunities?
Which technologies and infrastructure are available and suitable for our circumstances? Can we assess, adopt and integrate them, or develop innovations from our existing strengths?
What knowledge and skills can we access through education and industry partners? How are we developing the capabilities of our leaders, workforce and suppliers to deliver change?
How do community expectations and established industry practices influence what is possible? Does our leadership culture encourage collaboration, learning and challenging assumptions to create value?
Source: Performance or Compliance: your approach to climate risk matters, Susan McHattie and Stella Whittaker, p. 17 and reference 35. Seven lenses drawn from Stella Whittaker’s adaptation of the CLIMATEFIT Maturity Assessment Model.
Turning enabling conditions into practical choices
The seven lenses help leaders connect external opportunities with capabilities they can build. Examples include:
- Finance and investment: Use asset condition, energy performance and investment appraisal to prioritise projects. The Australian Government's grants and funding guide identifies grants, loans and co-financing options; the Clean Energy Finance Corporation supports eligible clean-energy investment.
- Technology and infrastructure: Commission energy assessments, test equipment suitability and consider network or site constraints before committing capital. NSW's business equipment upgrades arrangements illustrate how approved suppliers and incentives can support efficiency improvements.
- Skills and organisational capability: Build practical knowledge in procurement, finance, operations and project delivery, with clear accountability for implementation. Government and industry training and business support programs provide examples of external capability-building assistance.
- Industry and partnerships: Work with customers, suppliers, industry associations and local partners to develop workable specifications, shared investment cases and supply capacity. Industry associations and local business networks can help identify shared capability gaps, suitable partners and practical collaboration opportunities.
- Planning and business intelligence: Establish reliable asset, energy and commercial information, then test the costs, benefits and dependencies of proposed actions. NSW's Net Zero Planning Grant provides a time-limited example of planning assistance for eligible businesses; its published application closing date is 30 November 2026, or earlier if funding is exhausted.
Program eligibility, application windows and funding change. These examples illustrate types of assistance; leaders should check current guidelines before relying on support in an investment decision.
Different business models expose different dependencies. Two fictional Australian enterprises illustrate how leaders could investigate the conditions for delivery.
Clearwater Infrastructure Services
This fictional infrastructure services business depends on reliable essential services, long-lived assets, technical expertise and funding for maintenance and renewal. Its transition opportunities could include more efficient equipment, resilient infrastructure and improved asset performance.
Aroha Wilson — Chief Executive Officer is examining how changing infrastructure requirements, customer expectations and available technologies could affect Clearwater's future services. She wants the business to anticipate industry standards, strengthen relationships with customers and delivery partners, and develop the technical capabilities to respond.
Peter Okafor — Finance Director is considering the financial flexibility needed to upgrade long-lived assets while maintaining service reliability. He is strengthening Clearwater's capacity to assess asset performance, compare investment alternatives and negotiate funding arrangements.
Clearwater could begin with an asset and energy performance assessment, then test equipment upgrades against customer specifications, contract terms, capital availability and operational requirements. Its ability to deliver will depend on matching external conditions—such as network capacity, specialist suppliers and finance—with internal investment and project delivery capabilities.
Leadership question: Which capabilities should Clearwater develop now to improve asset performance and position the business for future infrastructure opportunities?
Community Horizons Services
This fictional community services provider creates value through dependable care and training services. Its performance depends on skilled people, suitable premises, reliable transport, client access and funding agreements.
David Nguyen — Chief Executive Officer is considering how changing climate conditions, building standards and funding requirements could affect service delivery. Community Horizons has limited control over the buildings it leases or the funding arrangements under which it operates. David is developing its capacity to engage landlords and funders, understand client and employee needs, and identify practical improvements to premises and service delivery.
Workforce knowledge and organisational culture are central to this response. Staff need the skills and confidence to recognise changing client needs, respond to extreme weather and contribute ideas for more resilient and efficient services. Community Horizons could review heat exposure and energy use at service locations while working with landlords, funders and training partners on feasible improvements.
Leadership question: How can Community Horizons strengthen its people, partnerships and organisational practices to maintain service quality and create value as conditions change?
The two businesses need different combinations of capability. Clearwater's priorities centre on investment and operational delivery; Community Horizons' priorities centre on partnerships, workforce knowledge and organisational culture. Both must distinguish the conditions they control, those they can influence and those they must accommodate. The response may involve developing a capability, negotiating a contract, joining an industry initiative or adjusting the timing of investment.
Which enabling conditions deserve attention first?
Start with the initiatives that matter most to future enterprise value. Identify the capabilities and dependencies essential to their success, the available information and operating experience and the actions that could make delivery more feasible. Assign responsibility for monitoring conditions outside the business, particularly where infrastructure, policy, finance or partners could change the investment case.
At Sightlines Advisory, the Climate Value Framework connects these enabling conditions with the enterprise's value drivers, climate risks and opportunities, and financial choices. It helps leaders test which responses are feasible, what must change to deliver them and where collaboration could create or protect value.
Source: Performance or Compliance: your approach to climate risk matters, Susan McHattie and Stella Whittaker, p. 17 and reference 35, for the seven lenses. Program examples: Australian Government energy.gov.au, NSW Climate and Energy Action and Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Check current eligibility and funding windows before use. Illustrative company examples are fictional.