Sustainability
Doing Good Is Good Business
For three decades, EQT has focused on being more than capital. For us, this means that we invest with the aim to maximize returns for our clients while also contributing to long-term sustainable growth.
Sustainability is an integral part of EQT’s active ownership strategy and a central part of how we create financial value. We are convinced that a more sustainable company is a better company.
Sustainability is holistically integrated into EQT’s strategy, from identifying investment opportunities to setting companies up for success long after our ownership period. EQT believes sustainability is a value-creation opportunity. By investing in companies that can play a meaningful part in tomorrow’s economy and in innovation that, for example, can help decarbonize society, EQT can make a lasting positive impact.
EQT’s investments into sustainability span from catalytic capital with the EQT Foundation investing in early-stage ideas and research, through to venture, growth, buy-out, and to our flagship impact strategy EQT Future investing in the impact potential of mature businesses. In practice, this means that EQT invests in driving operational sustainability in businesses across maturity stages and in accelerating sustainable products and solutions.
EQT’s influence reaches vastly beyond its own organization – from the millions of pensioners who trust EQT with their savings to the thousands of employees across the global investments, and the countless individuals around the world who use products and services enabled by EQT investments. Our reach and legacy put us in a distinctive position to drive change.
EQT believes that doing good is good business – it’s not an either-or proposition.
In order to help its investments prosper and drive long-lasting impact, EQT integrates sustainability into our active ownership approach through:
- Accountable Leadership
- Equitable Business Practices
- Regenerative Processes
EQT portfolio company, Vinted.
Accountable Leadership
EQT integrates sustainability into its plan for each investment and develops business-specific transformative KPIs¹. Further, EQT also draws on sustainability value creation levers such as appointing a sustainability board champion to the companies, ensuring accountability at the highest level of the company, and recommending investments to become a signatory of UN Global Compact Principles.
Accountability is supported by monitoring progress towards the established KPIs, and for certain EQT funds and investments, by encouraging sustainability performance through sustainability-linked financing options.
To lead by example, EQT has integrated sustainability into governance and decision-making by establishing a board-level Sustainability Committee, ensuring accountability at the highest level of the company. Further, EQT has dedicated sustainability heads in each business line, responsible for integrating sustainability into our processes.
Equitable Business Practices
EQT is committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace culture across its operations. This includes efforts to promote diverse representation and perspectives. Initiatives include, for example, gender-neutral parental leave, inclusive for families globally, aiming to create an environment where our employees can pursue long-term careers with continued development.
In the EQT funds’ portfolio companies EQT encourages employee engagement and aims for gender balance and diverse representation across the board and management to promote equal rights and opportunities.
Regenerative Processes
One of EQT’s flagship initiatives is its commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative, a global gold standard for carbon emission reductions aligned with the Paris Agreement. EQT had its near-term emission reduction targets validated in 2021, which also encompasses having the EQT funds’ portfolio companies set near-term science-based targets² by 2030. In practice, this means that EQT helps the investments develop decarbonization plans and supports them in achieving their goals during our ownership period.
Leading by Example
To truly accelerate EQT’s impact, we must drive change not only within our own company and portfolio but also across our industry and beyond. EQT is committed to contributing to innovating and accelerating action through strategic partnerships.
EQT’s strong, local foothold across Europe, North America, and Asia gives us a genuine understanding of the markets and helps us build long-term relationships with clients and companies. EQT’s vast network of advisors gives us access to industry veterans with deep sector expertise, who support EQT in empowering decision-making at the highest level of the companies we invest in and in driving performance and transformation. These differentiators make EQT confident in our ability to not only set a high bar for our own sustainability efforts but also to lead by example.
As a testament to EQT’s commitment to driving sustainability performance, EQT has been selected for inclusion in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices (previously Dow Jones Sustainability Indices) for three consecutive years based on its results in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, covering the sustainability performance of thousands of publicly listed companies across 61 industries.