Snehal Shah

Jessica Pilz will lead the $5.5bn AUM firm’s ESG efforts across its UK and Canada businesses.

‘Demand for climate resilience companies is driven by the rate and speed of climate change, not by the credit cycle or consumer behaviour,’ says Jay Koh, co-founder of impact firm Lightsmith, which has just raised its debut climate resilience fund.

‘Big asset managers have the managerial bandwidth to make an impact on portfolio companies and their supply chains. There are no excuses,' says Fabio Ranghino, IIGCC’s private equity working group co-lead.

Harvard Management Company has a $18bn allocation to private equity – including venture capital – and has brought ESG into its recently redrawn risk tolerance levels in recent years.

'There is considerable upside for everyone... tens of millions more Africans could gain stable employment while generating returns for investors,' said Allianz’s Martin Ewald.

‘We are constantly being asked for impact funds in emerging markets, but it’s very difficult to grow that from scratch’, says Will Nicoll, CIO of M&G’s private and alternative assets strategy.

High-profile investing and environment figures have input in investments and ‘give the fund a lot of credibility’, Paul Polman, co-chair of the mission board and former Unilever chief, tells New Private Markets.

Aavishkaar, a Mumbai-headquartered impact firm, will make equity and debt investments to improve companies’ ESG standards.

Some top-performing VC firms show 'very little acceptance' of ESG, and LPs must understand the unique VC model to engage them, says UN PRI’s Peter Dunbar.

Helios has secured Africa’s first ESG-linked capital call facility to finance Fund IV, which has a $1.4bn target.