EDF Staff | March 13, 2013
Last week, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) was featured in Environmental Finance. The piece centers on results from our work with the private equity sector on environmental initiatives like EDF Climate Corps and our ESG Management Tool. Below are a couple interesting excerpts from the article:
Creating a competitive advantage
When it comes to managing environmental, social and governance issues, the private equity industry is moving from 'why?' to 'how?', say Tom Murray and Lee Coker
Can you hear it? The private equity (PE) drumbeat for responsible investment is growing louder.
In five years of leading this effort, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has seen the conversation shift fundamentally from why PE firms should care about environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, to how they can leverage ESG management to improve financial performance – while also driving better environmental and social outcomes.
Today, a whopping 92% of fund managers plan to increase their focus on ESG management in the next three to five years, according to research by Malk Sustainability Partners.
And our ongoing conversations with leading firms support the thesis that ESG issues are increasingly becoming top-of-mind, and not just from a theoretical perspective.
Simply put, PE firms are recognizing the importance of ESG assessment and integration throughout the investment process to decrease risk, improve returns and responsibly manage their institutional investors’ money…
Keys to getting started
Another terrific resource for getting started is EDF’s Climate Corps programme, which places specially trained MBA students in companies to develop practical, actionable energy efficiency plans. It is a powerful way to obtain measurable results for investors, companies and the environment. Since 2008, we have placed 20 Climate Corps fellows at 12 different PE-backed portfolio companies.On average, EDF Climate Corps fellows have found $1 million in savings for their hosts with a total of $1.2 billion in identified savings since the programme began four years ago.
PE sponsors have included Apollo, Carlyle, CD&R, General Atlantic, KKR, Oak Hill Capital Partners and TPG. PE firms have also hosted fellows at the firm level, including CD&R, Carlyle Group’s Real Estate Fund and KKR’s Capstone.
To read the full article, visit Environmental Finance.