Energy Impact Partners: A collaboration that invests in the future

Advancing the net zero carbon economy

Since 2020, EIP has made several public commitments to ESG and impact principles, as well as reporting to promote accountability and transparency. They are a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), a UN-supported organisation dedicated to advancing responsible investment and supporting an international network of investor signatories to incorporate ESG considerations into investment decisions and ownership practices. They are also members of Initiative Climat International (iCI), a subgroup of UNPRI specifically formed to work on reducing carbon emissions of private equity-backed companies and securing sustainable investment performance by incorporating material climate risks in investment decisions. Lastly, EIP is a supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) as they believe the TCFD recommendations provide a useful framework for increasing transparency on climate-related risks and opportunities within financial markets.

“The clean energy transition requires a monumental shift of supply, delivery, operations, maintenance, management, and customer experience across the entire energy value chain. Companies like Klimate and Greenly support utilities and other companies on their decarbonisation journeys, ensuring they can measure, analyse, improve and remove their GHG emissions or other ESG KPIs.”

Peter Foxpenner, Chief Impact Officer

How much do we need to remove and how?

EIP used their expertise to build a sustainable strategy that can accelerate the company’s efforts to reach net zero with the aim of reflecting the company’s sustainable ecosystem.

EIP’s process of decarbonisation consists of three main steps:  

• measure their emissions to benchmark their efforts against competitors and define areas for further improvement
• work to reduce their emissions. As a responsible company, EIP reduces where possible and have set a clear path toward further reductions
• remove their unavoidable emissions

Finding the emissions baseline

When EIP reached Klimate, they had already started their net zero journey by measuring their emissions and reducing as much as they could. When it came to unavoidable emissions, EIP was not an exception. And their realisation that their operations (scope 1 and 2) produce unavoidable emissions is what initially led them to the next step, carbon removal.

EIP used Greenly, one of our carbon accounting partners to do their calculation, and together we created a great collaboration with a common purpose to navigate EIP towards net zero.

Selecting removal target and portfolio

Selecting a portfolio for EIP covered two of their main goals: to send a market signal and support emerging technologies. So far, EIP has removed 852 tonnes of carbon using three different methods of carbon removal. Most of the carbon removal comes from nature-based solutions (94,18%), while hybrid methods deliver the remaining 5,82%. Even though most of the emissions are removed using nature-based solutions, the majority of the funds allocated are invested in more permanent removal. Over time, we expect the cost of hybrid solutions to decrease and, as a result, EIP can maintain a similar split in their investments, while the volume will shift towards long-term removal of CO₂.

“Since 2019, EIP has offset all of its measured internal carbon emissions with purchased commercial carbon credits. This year we continue this practice and have placed a greater emphasis on pursuing carbon removals with stronger guarantees of additionality. Our evaluation of offset options led us to purchase removals that emphasise quality and permanence from Klimate. The Beyond Forestry offsets that we purchased this year blend forestry and carbon soil sequestration, de-emphasising less permanent forestry-only offsets.”

Peter Foxpenner, Chief Impact Officer

Accelerating the transformation to Net Zero

A commitment for the future

As EIP work with other partners to formalize a net zero framework for the venture capital industry, they are committed to remaining carbon neutral in their internal operations, and they are committed to continue making investments in companies and working with partners who are leading the clean energy transition.

A global investment platform

Energy Impact Partners (EIP) is a global investment platform leading the transition to a sustainable energy economy. EIP brings together entrepreneurs and the world’s most forward-looking energy and industrial companies to advance innovation. Their strategic investor group consists of 40+ leading energy utilities and industrial firms with strong involvement in energy and climate technologies. In serving as a bridge between new innovations and essential energy networks, they aim to help their utility and industrial partners accelerate their own journeys to reach zero net carbon and achieve equitable sustainability.