Where the money goes, so does private equity
Bloomberg Green has confirmed that today’s private equity shops—including the world’s largest alternative asset manager, Blackstone Group Inc.— are pouring capital into fast-growing sectors such as solar, carbon capture, and battery storage. Part of the attraction stems from the rapid adoption of wind and solar as public demand for climate accountability rises.
Over the last 18 months, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have also become much stronger considerations for investors worldwide, which helps to raise money for private equity funds. And where the money goes, so does private equity.
The UK government’s take on the public’s demand for climate accountability
The UK has the desire to go further and faster in its climate targets. The UK’s rules to define sustainable investing will be more ambitious than the European Union’s recent effort, says the head of the expert panel advising the government. Ingrid Holmes, chair of the nation’s new Green Technical Advisory Group, said: “we very much see this is an opportunity to big up ambition in the race-to-zero globally”.
The advisory group has claimed to oversee a “Green Taxonomy” to define the requirements for financial investments to be deemed environmentally sustainable, with the core of the rules intended to be in place by the end of 2022. The aim is to help prevent “greenwashing”, or exaggerated ethical claims, a growing worry for investors looking at a plethora of debt and fund products marketed as green.
The UK investor’s take on the demand for climate accountability
UK investors’ habits are evolving amid a changing sustainable and societal landscape. This has seen a rise in a generation of conscious investors, for whom ESG factors matter. These factors are playing an increasingly important role in the decisions of UK investors, especially for millennials, who have influenced societal changes and spurred a growth in sustainable investing for years.
As a result, almost half (48 per cent) of young people aged between 18 and 34 plan to make ESG investment by 2025, new research by Butterfield Mortgages Limited (BML) has found. The study of 735 UK investors — who have portfolios worth in excess of £20,000, excluding primary property, savings, pensions or SIPPs — found 24 per cent had made an ESG investment in the past.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent of respondents plan to make an ESG investment in the coming 12 months, while 25 per cent intend to do so by 2025. And more than one in five (22 per cent) investors say ESG factors have played an increasingly important role in their investment decisions over recent years.
Nearly a third (29 per cent) stated they will consider the environmental or social impact of the businesses or assets they invest in moving forward. As per BML, while ESG investing has become “more prominent” in recent years, it is still in its “infancy”.
Defining two very important abbreviations for this topic i.e., ESG and SRI.
SRI stands for Socially Responsible Investing, an investment process that considers social and environmental factors within the context of traditional quantitative investment analysis.
Next, as discussed previously in this article, ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, and refers to three central factors in measuring the sustainability of an investment. It was derived from the ‘Triple Bottom Line’, also known as the ‘People, Planet and Profits’ (PPP), a concept introduced in the 1990s. It argued that businesses should focus on each of the three ‘P’s’ and not just on ‘Profits’, since they were equally important for any commercial enterprise to be sustainable. This concept evolved into the focus of ESG, which today is the bedrock of SRI.
Are you looking to make a green impact via a green investment?
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Verditek on Crowd for Angels
Verditek is looking to raise a minimum of £250,000 and up to a maximum of £500,000 on the Crowd for Angels platform. The secured crowd bond offers an interest rate of seven per cent, with a term of 720 days. Security of the bond will be by way of a floating charge on the assets of the company.
Wish to take a look at Verditek on Crowd for Angels or just the other opportunities and services we offer? Here’s our website and we are hoping to speak to you and assist you to a greener future soon!