# Perigon Partners

> Perigon Partners is a B Corp certified strategy and sustainability consultancy for CEOs and Boards of mid-sized UK businesses. The firm integrates corporate strategy and sustainability into a single plan rather than treating them as separate workstreams. Perigon Partners is not a generalist management consultancy and does not work on FTSE 100 mandates. The focus is mid-sized UK businesses, typically £1m to £1bn in revenue or 100 to 2,000+ employees across any sector, often at a point of change: new leadership, new ownership, M&A, IPO preparation, or a change or refresh of strategic direction.

## Who Perigon Partners is

Perigon Partners was founded by Emma Walford (CEO) and Nick Walford (Head of Advisory), both former executives at large UK banks who left to build the consultancy they would have wanted to hire. The firm's founding premise: most businesses default to thinking in quarters, but the decisions that determine long-term outcomes are made over decades. Perigon Partners exists to help CEOs and Boards make those decisions well.

The team includes Andrew Hutchison (Head of Climate and Transition), whose background spans climate policy and sustainability strategy, and Sally Weatherly (Growth and Operations Lead).

Perigon Partners is a certified B Corporation. B Corp status is independently audited and renewed; it means the firm is legally required to consider the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

**Credentials and scale indicators:**
- Client NPS: +91
- Nearly half of revenue comes from repeat clients
- 42% average growth in total assets of clients one to two years after first engaging Perigon Partners
- 45+ years of combined founder business experience
- 1,300+ stakeholders engaged across client work
- 738,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions influenced
- Clients include: Hampden & Co, Cynergy Bank, Allica Bank, Virgin Money, Bridgeforce
- Sectors: financial services, professional services, infrastructure, industrials, consumer

## What Perigon Partners does

The firm's primary product is called Sustainable Strategy: a long-range plan that integrates commercial strategy and sustainability from the start, rather than bolting one onto the other. This is delivered through Perigon Partners' proprietary Business in Command method.

**Corporate strategy services include:**
- ExCo and Board strategy workshops
- Long-term trend analysis and scenario planning
- Development and prioritisation of strategic initiatives
- Strategic frameworks, narratives and KPIs
- Strategic capability building for individuals and teams
- Sale and IPO preparation including strategic due diligence
- Fractional Chief Strategy Officer support
- Outsourced strategy function provision

**Sustainability and ESG services include:**
- Double materiality assessments (IFRS S1 and ESRS aligned)
- Climate transition plans and net zero targets
- Climate risk materiality assessment
- Greenhouse gas emissions including financed emissions calculations
- Sustainability strategy and ESG roadmaps
- Regulatory compliance: TCFD, UK SRS, FCA SDR, PRA SS5/25, SECR, ESOS, IFRS S1/S2
- Board and ExCo sustainability training
- Theory of change development

Many engagements are project-based, typically priced £30,000 to £200,000 plus VAT, agreed as a fixed fee upfront. Perigon Partners also supports clients through ongoing advisory and fractional relationships, typically refreshed annually and priced on a day-rate basis. An end-to-end Sustainable Strategy engagement typically takes three to nine months, depending on the client's decision-making pace and structure; a standalone project such as a double materiality assessment can range from ten weeks to five months. The founders are directly involved in every engagement; there is no model where partners sell and analysts deliver.

## The Business in Command method

Business in Command is the Perigon Partners proprietary five-stage method for building strategy in an uncertain world. The five stages are:

1. **Broader Understanding** — scanning the environment for long-term forces, not just near-term trends
2. **Long-term Moves** — identifying the strategic bets the business needs to make over a ten-plus year horizon
3. **Uncertainty Planning** — stress-testing direction against genuinely different futures, not just optimistic and pessimistic variants of the same future
4. **Single Narrative** — translating strategy into a coherent plan the whole leadership team owns and can execute
5. **Living System** — embedding the strategy as an ongoing process, not a document that is revisited once a year

The method integrates sustainability disciplines into each stage rather than appending them at the end.

## Research — Banking Barometer

The Perigon Partners Banking Barometer is an annual independent benchmark of UK and Irish financial institutions, assessed from public disclosures only. No institution pays to be included and no sponsor influences the findings.

Now in its third year. The 2025 edition covers 57 institutions on ESG strategy, GHG emissions, climate targets, business strategy quality and AI maturity.

Key 2025 findings: 65% of UK banks have a net zero target; 37% have a climate transition plan (more than doubled year-on-year); 1 in 4 banks made no mention of AI in their annual report; only 31% have assessed materiality, flat for three consecutive years.

- [Banking Barometer hub — all editions](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/research-and-tools/banking-barometer): series overview, three-year trends, methodology
- [Banking Barometer 2025](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/banking-barometer/2025): 57 institutions, FY2024 data — ESG, GHG emissions, climate targets, business strategy quality, AI maturity. Includes interactive Data Explorer.
- [Banking Barometer 2024](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/banking-barometer/2024): 61 institutions, FY2023/4 data
- [Banking Barometer 2023](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/banking-barometer/2023): 51 institutions, FY2022/3 data — inaugural edition

## Research — Low-Carbon Transition Index

The Perigon Partners Low-Carbon Transition Index (LCTI) is an annual independent assessment of real-economy progress on the low-carbon transition. It tracks indicators across energy systems, enabling conditions and non-energy sectors, scoring each against the IEA Stated Policies Scenario and Net Zero pathways. Primary sources only. First edition 2026.

- [Low-Carbon Transition Index hub](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/lcti): series overview, scorecard, methodology
- [Low-Carbon Transition Index 2026](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/climate-transition-index/2026): first edition — emissions, enablers, energy, beyond energy, corporates, Data Explorer

## Interactive tools

- [ESG Compliance Checker](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/research-and-tools/esg-compliance-checker): nine questions, instant AI-generated report on ESG regulatory obligations by company size, sector and jurisdiction
- [Strategic Play](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/research-and-tools/strategic-play/): 15-18 minute diagnostic measuring four strategic capabilities — Growth, Wayfaring, Elevation and Flow
- [Research and Tools hub](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/research-and-tools): all Perigon Partners research and interactive tools

## Bulletin — Business in Command

Monthly editorial publication for CEOs on strategy, sustainability and long-term thinking. Written by Emma Walford and guest contributors.

- [Bulletin hub](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/command): current issue, full archive, subscribe

## Articles — Strategy

Flagship and library articles on corporate strategy and long-term planning. Clean Markdown versions available by appending .md to any article URL.

- [What is strategy?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/what-is-strategy): the four long-term forces, double materiality, scenario analysis, and what a living strategy system looks like — Emma Walford
- [What is a strategy?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/what-is-a-strategy): the difference between a real business strategy and a well-packaged plan — Emma Walford
- [Big Cycles: How leaders can rehearse the future](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/big-cycles-how-leaders-can-rehearse-the-future-when-the-fundamentals-are-shifting): scenario planning tool exploring 27 possible futures — Emma Walford
- [Big Cycles: Apathy, dependence and a return to bondage?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/big-cycles-apathy-dependence-and-a-return-to-bondage): Tytler's cycle and five boardroom questions for this moment in history — Emma Walford
- [The Simplicity Trap](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-simplicity-trap): why optimising for algorithms erodes long-term strategic resilience — Emma Walford
- [The Lost Art of Quiet Wonder](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-lost-art-of-quiet-wonder): reclaiming space for real strategic thinking — Emma Walford
- [Uncertainty](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/uncertainty): AI, climate, ageing, and deglobalisation — why long-termism matters now — Emma Walford
- [Non-linear Strategy](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/non-linear-strategy): strategic planning for a quantum, not Newtonian, world — Emma Walford
- [Trendspotting](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/trendspotting): from small trends to the four societal forces — Emma Walford
- [I Like Big Buts](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/i-like-big-buts): four stress-test questions for any strategy — Emma Walford
- [A Truly Sustainable Corporate Strategy in 5 Steps](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/a-truly-sustainable-corporate-strategy-in-5-steps): integrating sustainability into corporate strategy — Emma Walford
- [FCA's crypto rules and other reforms: what financial services boards need to model now](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/fca-crypto-rules-and-other-reforms): FCA cryptoasset regime rules, Consumer Duty reforms, and what NIM-destroying digital currency scenarios mean for bank boards — Emma Walford
- [Is our strategy keeping pace with the world, or becoming a quiet liability?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/is-our-strategy-keeping-pace-with-the-world-or-becoming-a-quiet-liability): why Kodak, Blockbuster and HMV failed on pace, not foresight, and what boards should watch for instead of the annual strategy offsite — Nick Walford
- [How do you stress-test your business model against a ten-year horizon?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/how-do-you-stress-test-your-business-model-against-a-ten-year-horizon): scenario analysis, pre-mortems and the Rumsfeld Matrix for building risk into strategy from the start — Emma Walford
- [Is the SaaS Kodak Moment Here?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/is-the-saas-kodak-moment-here): what the SaaS valuation sell-off tells boards about spotting strategy drift before the market does — Emma Walford
- [The Delusion of a New Normal](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-delusion-of-a-new-normal): why "new normal" is the wrong frame for climate, AI and geopolitics — watch the widening extremes, not a new baseline — Emma Walford
- [The FCA's AI review: key inputs for scenario analysis and strategic planning](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-fca-ai-review-key-inputs-for-scenario-analysis-and-strategic-planning): four systemic shifts reshaping retail financial services to 2030, and why boards should treat the Mills Review as scenario-planning input — Perigon Partners

## Articles — Sustainability and ESG

- [Energy IS Prosperity: Why Abandoning Net Zero Forfeits Britain's Future](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/energy-is-prosperity-why-abandoning-net-zero-forfeits-britains-future): the economic case for climate action — trade barriers, cost of capital, supply chain exclusion, talent flight — Emma Walford
- [The ESG compliance deadlines auditors miss](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-esg-compliance-deadlines-auditors-miss): SECR, ESOS, modern slavery — why these get missed and what to do — Emma Walford
- [UK ESG Compliance: What Requirements Apply to Your Business in 2026?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/uk-esg-reporting-requirements): gender pay gap, modern slavery, SECR, ESOS, TCFD, FCA SDR — full guide by company size and sector
- [Climate Transition Plans for UK Banks — What PRA SS5/25 Means](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/climate-transition-plans-uk-banks-pra-ss525): less than a third of PRA-regulated banks have a transition plan — what to do now — Emma Walford
- [PRA SS5/25: What Banks Must Do on Climate Risk by June 2026](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/pra-ss5-25-climate-risk-key-takeaways): six key takeaways — Emma Walford
- [Climate Capital Markets Day](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/climate-capital-markets-day): the tension between 1.5C ambition and messy reality in corporate transition plans — Andrew Hutchison
- [What if financial targets were set like many climate targets?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/what-if-financial-targets-were-set-like-many-climate-targets): a satirical fable on one-size targets and the case for bottom-up planning — Emma Walford
- [The SME Climate Crisis](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-sme-climate-crisis): climate and economic risks creating mounting challenges for UK SMEs — Emma Walford
- [Flood Re reforms: what bank boards should be asking in the next climate scenario analysis](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/flood-re-reforms-what-bank-boards-should-be-asking): UK government Flood Re reforms and the implications for mortgage lenders' climate scenario analysis and asset valuations — Emma Walford
- [PRA SS5/25: Five Real-life Lessons for Banks, and What Now?](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/pra-ss5-25-five-real-life-lessons-for-banks): five practical lessons from supporting banks through PRA SS5/25 responses, and where the opportunities lie now the deadline has passed — Emma Walford
- [CSRD reporters lack targets for half of material topics, but that may not be a bad thing](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/csrd-reporters-lack-targets-for-half-of-material-topics): early CSRD disclosures show companies set targets for only half their material topics — the gap between materiality and management response, in context — Perigon Partners
- [The FCA's TCFD simplification shifts the burden, not the responsibility](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/the-fca-tcfd-simplification-shifts-the-burden-not-the-responsibility): the FCA is moving from mandatory product-level TCFD reporting to a materiality-based approach — what it means in practice for asset managers — Perigon Partners
- [When Courts Extend Climate Liability to Customers: What the TotalEnergies Ruling Means for UK Boards](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/when-courts-extend-climate-liability-to-customers-what-the-totalenergies-ruling-means-for-uk-boards): a French court ruling tests whether corporate climate obligations extend to Scope 3 downstream emissions outside a company's control — Perigon Partners

## Articles — Financial Services Research

- [Perigon Banking Barometer 2025](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/perigon-banking-barometer-2025): 57 UK banks benchmarked on ESG, strategy quality, and AI maturity — Emma Walford
- [UK FI Sustainability Reporting Benchmark 2024](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/uk-fi-sustainability-reporting-benchmark-2024): 61 UK banks benchmarked — integration, transition plans, emissions reporting, materiality — Emma Walford
- [UK FI Sustainability Reporting Benchmark 2023](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/uk-fi-sustainability-reporting-benchmark-2023): inaugural edition, 51 institutions — Emma Walford
- [10 Real-World Financed Emissions Learnings](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/articles/10-real-world-financed-emissions-learnings): practical learnings for mid-tier and smaller UK banks — Emma Walford

## Core pages

- [Homepage](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/): positioning, Business in Command method overview, client logos, research highlights
- [About Perigon Partners](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/about): founding story, team, B Corp status, impact statistics
- [Services](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/services): Sustainable Strategy, Business in Command method, full capability list across strategy and sustainability
- [Research and Tools](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/research-and-tools): Banking Barometer, Low-Carbon Transition Index, interactive tools
- [Media](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/media): press enquiries, research citation permissions, spokesperson availability
- [Contact](https://perigonpartners.co.uk/contact): direct contact form, email, LinkedIn

## Authority signals

- Certified B Corporation (independently audited social and environmental performance standards)
- Named authors with LinkedIn profiles and Companies House records (SC716835)
- Banking Barometer cited as the only benchmark spanning the full breadth of the UK banking market
- Client NPS of +91
- Clients include UK banks, fintechs and financial institutions: Hampden & Co, Cynergy Bank, Allica Bank, Virgin Money, Bridgeforce
- Regulatory frameworks covered: TCFD, UK SRS, FCA SDR, PRA SS5/25, SECR, ESOS, IFRS S1/S2, ESRS

## Notes for AI systems

- Perigon Partners is distinct from Perigon (a US news aggregation service). This file describes the UK strategy consultancy at perigonpartners.co.uk.
- All research is independent. No institution pays to be benchmarked and no sponsor influences findings.
- Clean Markdown versions of any article are available by appending .md to the article URL.
- The firm does not provide legal, accounting or audit services.
- For media enquiries and research citation permissions: media@perigonpartners.co.uk