How Private Equity Learned To Stop Worrying And Love ESG
From ImpactAlpha- To know what big private equity funds are up to, look – and listen – to what they tell their largest clients.
Lately, the asset managers are pitching the owners on climate investing and ESG. ESG has finally found its true sales reps in big private equity. Because if there is one thing these men of finance know how to do, it’s sell.
ESG, even in private equity, is not new. But the tone has changed. No longer a reluctant, symbolic, marketing-driven sideline, private-equity strategies are putting environmental, social and governance approaches on center-stage. Private equity firms have become among ESG’s most enthusiastic boosters. And it works! Pension and endowment boards don’t want to hear Greta Thunberg, or other activists, banging on about climate change’s threat to the planet. They want to be sold the future. A future of prosperity and double-digit returns.