Issue‐Centric Orchestration of Climate Transition: The Case of Transition Risk Governance

A decade ago, climate transition fell outside the mandates of financial regulators, central banks, accounting standard‐setting bodies, and financial‐market actors. Today, it is central to financial‐market governance aimed at steering business conduct toward a low‐carbon economy. Drawing on a longitudinal study of climate transition as a financial governance concern from 2010 to 2021, we show how governance authority over emerging sustainability concerns is assembled when no actor has an established mandate to address those concerns. Informed by Latour's concept of matter of concern, our analysis reveals how climate transition became constituted as transition risk, was stabilized through the private industry‐led Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures, and was translated across interconnected governance sites. We develop a three‐phase process model of issue‐centric orchestration – issue emergence, stabilization, and translation – unpacking how governance authority is progressively assembled through the trajectory of transition risk. The study contributes to public–private governance research by showing how private governance initiatives can reshape and extend, rather than displace or reduce, public authority. It further advances orchestration research by showing how interdependent governance arrangements form around shared concerns across governance domains and jurisdictions.