Invest
The private sector plays a key role in creating a more sustainable future. By investing in companies that contribute to tomorrow’s economy and in innovation that will help mitigate sustainability challenges, EQT continues to make a lasting positive impact.
Sustainability is holistically integrated into EQT’s strategy, from identifying investment opportunities to setting companies up for success long after our ownership period. By making the companies and assets we invest in more sustainable, we create value for the long term.
EQT’s investments into sustainability span from catalytic capital with the EQT Foundation, investing in early-stage ideas and research, through to venture, growth, and 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 accelerating sustainable products and solutions and in transforming businesses.
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 our global investments, and the countless individuals around the world who use products and services enabled by EQT’s investments. Our reach and legacy put us in a unique position to drive change.
Transform
EQT believes that doing good is good business – it’s not an either-or proposition. EQT aims to transform itself and its investments to prosper and be sustainable through accountable leadership, regenerative processes, and equitable business practices. In order to drive real impact and long-lasting transformation, EQT integrates sustainability into our active ownership approach through:
Accountable leadership
To ensure accountability at the highest level of the company, EQT appoints a sustainability champion in all investments' Boards. EQT integrates sustainability into its plan for each investment and develops business-specific transformative KPIs. Further, EQT also recommends investments to become a signatory of UN Global Compact Principles.
Accountability is ensured by tracking progress towards the KPIs set out and for some of EQT’s funds and investments, by incentivizing sustainability performance through sustainability-linked financing vehicles.
To lead by example, EQT has integrated sustainability into governance and decision-making by establishing the first board-level Sustainability Committee in the private markets. Further, EQT has dedicated sustainability heads in each business line, responsible for integrating sustainability into our processes.
Equitable business practices
To ensure equal rights and opportunities EQT encourages employee engagement in all companies and is steering towards gender balance and diverse representation across the board and management in all investments.
Similarly, EQT is looking to drive diversity, equality, and inclusion across its own operations, focusing not only on gender but also cultural background and socio-economic origin. Initiatives include gender-neutral parental leave, inclusive for families globally, aiming to create an environment where our employees can pursue long-term careers with continued development.
Regenerative processes
One of EQT’s flagship climate initiatives is its commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative, a global gold standard for carbon emission reductions aligned with the Paris Agreement. EQT has committed to setting 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets, encompassing both its own operations and all its investments by 2030, and to set investments on track to deliver on their net zero pathways by 2040. In practice, this means that EQT helps the investments develop decarbonization targets and plans, and supports them in delivering on the plan during our ownership period.
Lead
The private sector plays a key role in creating a more sustainable future. EQT is committed to working with our peers, to innovate and accelerate industry-wide 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. Our vast network of advisors consists of industry veterans who grant us access to deep sector expertise. The advisors 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 contribute to driving sustainable transformation.
As a testament to EQT’s commitment to driving sustainability performance, EQT has been recognized as, for instance, ‘Global Sustainable Investor of the Year’ in the Infrastructure Investor Awards 2022 and ‘Large-Cap Firm of the Year’ in the Real Deals ESG Awards 2022. In 2023, EQT was selected for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) 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, for the second consecutive year in a row.