ESG – Planet, People and Profit

Thoughtful management of resources and people have always made good business sense, and that sentiment is becoming more apparent to more people and firms in the current global climate. The last two years have cast a light on the critical importance of ESG issues. ESG planning is now central to running a private equity or venture capital firm and working with portfolio companies.

Many private equity firms, including Inflexion, have focused on ESG for many years, and the industry has strong examples of principles being put into practice. I am pleased to share some of our own below, and excited that sustainability is a core pillar of Vision 2022 and the companies it will recognise.

Community has been important to Inflexion since inception, and in 2018 we formalised our charitable giving programme by launching the Inflexion Foundation, which has already donated £5m to 32 charities that look to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK. In addition to this crucial funding, half the Inflexion team have supported pro-bono work to support the people these charities look to help.

We have long worked with our portfolio to ensure that they address key ESG issues* – this is crucial since collectively it employs nearly 30,000 people and reaches 160 countries. We have ramped up our efforts here by linking key metrics for ESG performance across our portfolio to a capital call facility for our recently closed £2.5 billion Buyout Fund VI. These ESG KPI’s track the portfolio companies’ performance to three key areas of importance to Inflexion: carbon intensity, senior management team diversity and governance best practice. To ensure we lead by example, we apply this same care and commitment across Inflexion itself.

Looking after our planet is crucial and a key concern for our staff. So we are taking steps to do more than ever in this space. We are proud to have been awarded Carbon Trust’s ‘carbon-neutral’ status in 2021, having offset carbon emissions since being founded in 1999 with projects that cut carbon and improve lives. We continue to find ways we can reduce our impact. In November 2021, Inflexion became the first UK corporate to support Sustainable Aviation Fuel™, an initiative fostered between Neste, a renewable fuel producer, and Reed & Mackay, a corporate travel specialist. The partnership enables Inflexion to significantly reduce the environmental impact of its business travel, contributing to the Firm’s overall journey towards net-zero.

To ensure we remain at the forefront of responsible investing, we have recently appointed our first ESG Director, a leading expert in sustainability and a founding force behind the Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability which she currently Chairs.

ESG is not merely the right thing to do, it is crucial to attracting talent as people want to know they are part of a business which cares for its people, the planet and communities. By all doing a little, we can achieve a lot.
 

Authored by Andrew Priest
Partner and Head of Origination at Inflexion

This article was originally published in 2022 as part of the BVCA's Vision Awards, and some of the content may now be out of date. Please contact the BVCA if you have any queries or need further assistance. 

*Key ESG issues:

• 100% Portfolio companies report on CO2 emissions data
• 100% portfolio companies undertake initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint
• 100% portfolio companies have all key D&I policies in place
• 100% portfolio companies have key governance polities in place