In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week, we are pleased to release our third annual ESG report, which looks back at our highlights from 2022 across sustainability, DE&I and community, as well as outlining our ongoing commitment to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our colleagues and portfolio.

Throughout the last year we have had many highlights and achievements including;

• Holding our first ESG forum to equip business leaders across our portfolio with the insights, context and knowledge necessary to accelerate ESG actions and reporting in their own businesses
• Becoming the world’s first private equity firm to achieve Gold Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) status from the Carbon Literacy Project (CLP)
• Offsetting all the emissions generated by our business activity (Scope 1, 2 and operational Scope 3) for the fourth consecutive year
• Placing 6^th in the European PE category of the Honordex Inclusive Index Score 2023 for our DE&I performance, with particular reference to improvements made in the last 12 months
• Continuing to prioritise positive mental health in the workplace by formalising our partnership with Sanctus, including sponsoring six portfolio leaders through the Sanctus leadership programme
• Increasing diverse representation in the portfolio – where we are lead investor 27% of CEOs are female and 100% portfolio companies have female representation in the SLT
• Providing support and work experience opportunities for people from a diverse range of backgrounds through the Private Equity Challenge, 10,000 Black Interns programme and organisation of events in partnership with the 6% Club, alongside commissioning a specialist talent research firm to help us establish the diversity in entry-level talent for the PE industry
• Raising and donating over £57,000 to charity throughout the year
• Ensuring that our people remain engaged with NorthEdge as an employer – achieving an eNPS of +58 (sector average of +28)
• Receiving awards and special recognition for our ESG efforts

Our third annual report aims to provide transparency for all our stakeholders and highlight our continued commitment to supporting our people, our portfolio and our planet.

Lucie Mills, Partner responsible for ESG & Value Creation at NorthEdge, said: “Last year we talked about building on our foundations and using them as a platform to make further progress, which I’m pleased we have continued to deliver on throughout 2022. As we look to the year ahead, our aim is to keep challenging ourselves to do better, support our portfolio to achieve their ESG goals, and use our voice in the industry to share best practice with peers and the wider community.

Collectively, the Private Equity industry has the power to drive positive and sustainable change. Therefore, we will continue to play our part through encouraging a culture of sharing, collaboration, and continuous development, to ensure we collectively build better businesses.”

Click here to read the full report.