Sustainable Investing: A Playbook for VC Funds

In todays world, all private entities need to adopt a consistent approach to managing sustainability, including Venture Capital (VC) Funds. A sustainability approach helps to identify and better manage risks faced by the VC fund. It also improves efficiency, predictability and planning, the quality of investments, and increases transparency and accountability. The VC industry lags other asset classes in the adoption of sustainability approaches. Due to their small size, agile operation, and focus on innovation and technology, there are few bespoke sustainability resources for VC Funds, making it more difficult for them to apply ESG principles. As a result, VC Funds have largely been observers in an ever-changing sustainability agenda. This Sustainable Investment Playbook provides a blueprint for VC Funds who wish to implement a sustainability approach. It was designed together with VC Funds, and aims to be a practical tool, providing a review of the existing literature and resources available, as well as a step-by-step guidance on how to implement a sustainability approach, covering all stages of the venture investment cycle.
Time is of the essence for VC funds and VC-backed companies; Sustainable Investing is a must but not yet a given.