Private Equity and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

Financial institutions are under increased scrutiny for their role in environmental, social, governance (ESG) risks and impact. In November 2019, the European Parliament introduced the first ever legislation on ‘Sustainability Disclosure’ for financial institutions. Within financial institutions, the private equity industry stands out as an asset class which could have a significant impact on ESG factors. Private Equity is the single largest in the private capital markets with 4,000 institutions worldwide, representing around 15,000 companies and close to $3TN in assets under management. Private equity also happens to be the single largest class of signatories in the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) which means that the industry is taking a more committed interest in responsible investment practices. This research project seeks to find the role between private equity and sustainable development, following into matters of materiality and using technology platforms to enhance sustsainability reporting. The benefit to the partner organization is to protype, test and pilot cloud-based technology platforms for sustainability reporting in financial institutions and assess commercial potential for this.

Faculty Supervisor:

Olaf Weber

Student:

Majid Mirza

Partner:

Blue Sky Sustainability

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo