Sustainability in our investment strategy
We are committed to a policy of responsible investment from pre-screening to exit and believe that sustainability integration across our portfolio creates value for our Shareholders and makes our portfolio companies more attractive for investment.
Whilst we aim to invest in businesses and entrepreneurs who recognise and embrace the need for more sustainable practices, we don’t expect or demand the finished product but instead ask for a commitment to meet or surpass our sustainability targets during the lifetime of our investment with our support.
Investment Team sustainability training
To ensure that sustainability is meaningfully integrated into our investment decision-making, in FY25 VentureESG delivered ESG and sustainability training to our Investment Team designed to help to equip them with some of the knowledge and tools to identify material risks and opportunities across sustainability factors throughout the investment process
By building this internal expertise, we aim to strengthen our ability to engage with portfolio companies on these issues and support them in building more responsible and resilient businesses.
Sustainability in our investment process
Pre-screening
We are mindful of the general themes surrounding sustainability and our role as a responsible investor when considering potential investments.
Screening
We screen all prospective portfolio companies against our Exclusion List, which contains various classes of asset focus that we will not invest in, including operating in carbon-intensive industries such as fossil fuel mining.
Due Diligence
We distribute our Sustainability Framework as part of the diligence process to assist in risk and opportunity identification. The output of this Framework is used to help inform our investment decision. Any significant sustainability risks are flagged and may be escalated to General Counsel.
Investment Committee
We outline sustainability risks and opportunities as part of qualitative assessment in the Investment Committee paper. Relevant sustainability topics are explored as part of the Investment Committee discussion and decision-making process.
Ownership
We monitor portfolio companies’ performance through annual distribution of our Sustainability Framework. We also periodically deliver bespoke events and 1:1 workshops to help with integration of sustainability strategies.
Exit
We aim to capture the nature of sustainability progress made through the lifetime of the investment by collation of historic monitoring and reporting data obtained during the investment.