Schneider Electric, which was recognized as the world’s most sustainable corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights Global 100 Index, today congratulates EQT AB, global investment organization, on being the first private markets firm to successfully achieve Science Based Targets (SBT) validation.
Financial institutions such as EQT have a large impact on climate change through their investment activities. Thus, it is essential they prioritize target setting in these areas. To align financial institutions’ target setting with climate science, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) released a new framework in 2021, requiring that 100% of private equity firms’ portfolio must achieve SBT validation by 2040. EQT, as one early adopter of this framework, is going beyond SBTi’s requirement – the company aims to achieve 100% by 2030 with an ambitious interim target of setting SBTs by 2025 for 40% of its private and listed equity portfolio by EUR-invested capital.
Other components of EQT’s SBTs include:
- EQT commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 50% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.
- EQT AB commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from business travels 30% by 2030 from a 2019 base year.
- EQT AB commits to reduce its real estate portfolio GHG emissions by 55% per square meter by 2030 from a 2019 base year.
“We have a clear ambition to combat climate change holistically across the EQT ecosystem and setting science based targets is an important milestone towards this goal,” said Bahare Haghshenas, Global Head of Sustainable Transformation, EQT. “This is a testament to how we integrate purpose and positive impact into everything we do, and it will enable us to drive even better performance.”
Schneider Electric supported EQT with its SBT modeling and validation process. The company also engages with EQT portfolio companies to conduct initial greenhouse gas baseline assessments, develop targets, and implement renewable electricity sourcing strategies.
“The investment sector is key to accelerate the system-wide change needed to reach net-zero. We need ambitious climate action across all sectors and sizes of companies,” said Philippe Diez, Partner Sustainability Business Division Europe, Schneider Electric. “I applaud EQT for spearheading with the decarbonization of its portfolios and dedicating the resources needed to set validated science based targets. Schneider Electric looks forward to supporting its journey in achieving those targets.”
To reach its goal of all portfolio companies having SBTs in place by 2030, EQT will start immediately working with its portfolio companies to support their SBT validation and decarbonization strategies. Both Schneider Electric and EQT actively provided feedback on targets and strategy to the Science Based Target initiative as members of the Private Equity Expert Advisory Group.
EQT recently participated in a webinar about putting climate risk and resilience into practice, hosted by Schneider Electric. Watch the recording here.
