Responsible investing

We apply the same level of commitment to responsible investing as we do to all our business activities. The Abris Responsible Investment Policy defines our responsibilities, presents our investment process path, and defines the rules of transparency.

We continually strive to contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs) through our own activities and those of our portfolio companies. Abris has an important part to play in achieving these goals for a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable world.

We are delighted to introduce our new “ESG Universe 2023” strategy – a comprehensive program of environmental, social and governance initiatives that commits the firm to achieving a carbon neutral portfolio by 2025.

The strategy, which has been developed over the past three years as part of the Abris “ESG Universe 2020”, encompasses 17 initiatives across four categories:  

1. governance and culture 
2. standards 
3. education 
4. carbon neutrality 

ESG Universe 2023 retains the clear goal of assisting in risk mitigation and value creation across the Abris portfolio, but at the same time includes the ambitious target of achieving a carbon neutral portfolio by 2025 and puts in place net-zero action plans for each individual portfolio company.

2020
Plant the tree…

2023
Grow the forest!

We actively integrate ESG factors at each stage of the investment process, from the initial due diligence through monitoring and value creation to the exit.

Please find out our Exclusion List here, and download the latest copy of the ESG report to check more about our ESG process.

Value Enhancement Team 

Our Value Enhancement Team works to support Deal Teams in risk management and value creation. The primary areas supported by the Value Enhancement Team include ESG, portfolio risk management, technology, and IT security. The team’s main objectives are:

• Supporting Deal Teams with specialized knowledge
• Documenting of Abris investment and portfolio experience
• Continuous professionalization of Abris organization

We have developed the Abris ESG Scoring application, an innovative IT tool that supports investment decision making and ESG portfolio oversight. The key objectives are planning, monitoring, and measuring our ESG impact, allowing for practical execution of the Abris Responsible Investment Policy.

Please click on the graph below to learn more about Abris ESG scoring components.

500 ESG measures in Abris ESG Scoring are included in 10 ESG areas:

1. Environmental Issues
2. Human Resources
3. Human Rights
4. Health & Safety
5. Product/Services Safety
6. Corporate Governance
7. Anti-Bribery
8. Sanctions & Anti-Trust
9. Cybersecurity and GDPR
10. Marketing

Abris strives to develop the ESG knowledge and skills of our portfolio companies. The two most important activities in this area are the Abris ESG Awards and ESG Training Workshops.

Abris ESG Awards

The Abris ESG Awards competition recognizes innovation and progress among our portfolio companies. The awards celebrate the exceptional work of our companies’ ESG teams and the commitment of our Deal Teams to work with them on taking sustainable actions. 

The competition consists of a Grand Prix category and three subcategories: Environment, Social and Corporate Governance. All winners are selected by a jury of in-house and independent experts.

The winners of Abris ESG Awards 2018:

Grand Prix: Patent. Co
Environment: Green Group
Social: Pehart
Corporate Governance: Velvet Care

The winners of Abris ESG Awards 2019:

Grand Prix: Velvet Care
Environment: WDX
Social: Graal
Corporate Governance: Cadm

Learn more about the Abris ESG Awards: 

Abris ESG training for portfolio companies

The very first step to support our portfolio companies to realize the importance of all ESG matters is to build awareness, share expert knowledge and exchange good practices between the portfolio firms. Thus, each year we organize our ‘Annual ESG Training’ for the portfolio companies to address the essential ESG matters. 

Previous training on ESG included the following topics: 

• whistleblowing and Anti-bribery issues
• climate-related risk and opportunities
• carbon footprint measuring
• machinery safety issues

Our management teams must be aware of the environmental impact of their operations; thus we take sound actions to manage it by:

• ESG Scoring Tool helping to adapt business model to climate change 
• Creating a net-zero strategy in each portfolio company 
• Developing a carbon footprint measuring tool in scope 1 and 2 for the entire portfolio and setting high level of reduction ambition
• Providing training to our portfolio companies in terms of climate-related risk and opportunities

The firm’s Climate Manifesto sets out key actions across five core areas: achieving carbon neutrality at Abris by 2023; developing an effective balancing model by 2023; achieving a carbon-neutral portfolio by 2025; developing an agile climate change strategy for our portfolio companies; and building a net zero strategy pathway for our portfolio companies by 2030. Read the full manifesto here.