ESG and EDI
Reducing inequalities in the UK is at the heart of our mission, and our approach to ESG and EDI is integral to our role as an impact investor and market-builder.
Our Responsible Investment Policy forms the foundation of our ESG approach. You can find out more about our EDI approach and framework here.
2024 Highlights
Our portfolio of fund managers and social banks outperforms industry averages in gender identity diversity, compared to the wider private equity and venture capital industry.
Collaborating with fund managers to improve their EDI practice through our EDI due diligence (DD) assessment and have observed increases in diversity in decision-making bodies and in reporting since we invested.
Ongoing support for market building initiatives, including the Diversity Forum's Data Project to enhance sector-wide diversity data collection, and the Equalising Deal Terms Project to address the power imbalance between investor and investee.
EDI Fund Manager Survey
Every year we survey our fund managers to understand diverse representation across our portfolio and assess progress against our EDI Investment and Portfolio Theory of Change.
Key insights:
- No all-men boards or senior leadership teams.
- 56% decrease in all-white boards.
- 370% increase in women making up over half of fund manager boards and 526% increase in women making up to half of the investment committees [1].
- 25% increase in people with a disability or long-term health condition in senior leadership teams.
- Lower levels of diversity in our Treasury portfolio compared to our Social Impact Investment portfolio.
Find out more about our EDI survey results.
Spotlight:
Examples of EDI best practice in our portfolio
Social Investment Scotland: Understanding barriers to investment for ethnic minority social entrepreneurs.
End notes
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These percentages represent an increase of one to six organisations from 2023 to 2024 of women representing over half of Boards and one to eight organisations from 2023 to 2024 of women representing 26-50% of Investment Committees.
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