Bain Capital integrates ESG across the firm and its investment strategies. It has prioritized efforts in areas where it believes it can have a meaningful, measurable impact over the long-term. In 2021, it codified this approach by establishing core ESG commitments and ambitions as investors. This includes:
• Promoting active and engaged governance, holding the firm accountable for driving value with high integrity in partnership with its investments and portfolio companies
• Reducing emissions and improving resource efficiency, embedding sustainability into portfolio companies and rigorously measuring the resulting impact over time
• Treating employees with fairness and respect, building an environment and culture that at its core promotes employee safety, wellbeing and engagement
• Being champions of DEI and driving meaningful progress by cultivating a high-performance culture that advances diversity, equity and inclusion
• Encouraging and supporting efforts to engage and contribute to communities, locally and across the globe
Before it invests, Bain seeks to have a comprehensive picture of the ESG profile of a company. As part of due diligence, it incorporates additional ESG factors to consider specific to the company’s industry and profile. This may include analysis on environmental exposure, carbon baseline, labor, health and safety issues, and human rights violations and governance matters. In each of its private market businesses, ESG integration is managed by the business leadership team and by individual investment and portfolio leads.
Bain’s private markets businesses have developed goals to improve the management of environmental and climate-related factors during the course of investment. The pillars of its portfolio company approach are built around the measurement of environmental footprints, reduction in impact and integration of environmental consideration into business operations. It works in partnership with portfolio companies on individual plans, defining their ESG ambition and progressing on short and long-term goals each year.
Bain also brings in external partners. For example, many of its portfolio companies have completed environmental certifications with companies such as EcoVadis, a sustainability monitoring platform, to help them track material ESG factors and validate progress.
“Promote ESG as aligned to building long-term value for portfolio companies and investors, because it unlocks a positive multiplier to value creation and positive impacts on the environment and society,” says Tricia Winton global head of ESG. “It also cannot sit off to the side of the investment and value creation process, but must be integrated throughout all firm functions and levels of seniority.”
For our full 2022 Private Equity Innovators in ESG coverage, click here.
