Our clear mission: highest standards for sustainable value creation.

Responsibility

Our Responsibility

As long-term oriented investors, we acknowledge that we have a responsibility towards the environment, employees, communities and society associated with us and with the portfolio companies of funds managed by ECM. Hence, we have committed ourselves to fulfil high standards of environment, social and governance (‘ESG’) matters and are signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (‘UN PRI‘). As such, ESG considerations form an integral part of our investment approach and ESG-related opportunities and risks are included in the investment decision processes. Our funds do not invest in businesses, which are exposed to material ESG related risks or pose such a risk themselves. We monitor the ESG progress and performance of our portfolio companies based on a set of specific indicators which form part of a sustainable value creation strategy.

In the following, we provide details on our approach with regard to environmental, social and governance aspects. Furthermore, we highlight certain important indicators, which we consider both in our investment decision processes as well as during the ownership period of portfolio companies:

The continuous improvement of the sustainability of operations of our portfolio companies is considered to be an integral part of a successful, long-term value creation strategy. It is our aspiration to promote economic activity in accordance with sustainability principles and to protect resources for future generations. To that end, we are committed to reducing our own adverse impact as well as respective impact of our investments on the climate. Therefore, we encourage our portfolio companies to regularly measure their carbon footprint and to implement reduction strategies aimed at contributing to the achievement of the Paris Agreement objective. We support our portfolio companies in actively engaging with further environmental issues that relate to their specific business activities, including the reduction of energy consumption, waste and hazardous materials.

Relevant sustainability indicators reviewed before any investment is made as well as during the ownership period include i.a. their

  • Greenhouse gas emissions,
  • Energy consumption,
  • Emissions into the water,
  • Amount of hazardous waste.

Attracting and developing motivated employees is a highly relevant success factor not only for ECM but also the portfolio companies. Accordingly, we consider safe working conditions, family-friendly workplaces, attractive remuneration schemes as well as opportunities for professional and personal development to be important conditions for sustainable corporate success.

In addition, our portfolio companies have a societal responsibility in their respective communities. We actively support local social involvement and investment in the training of young talent.

As a fundamental principle, we respect and promote human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Right within our own operations as well as within our investment activities.

Sustainability assessment criteria during the investment process as well as in cooperation with our portfolio companies include 

  • No violation of human rights,
  • Safety at work standards and accident rates,
  • Employee turnover,
  • Training and development opportunities.

Integrity, strong business ethics and compliance are essential aspects for conducting a responsible business. We do not limit ourselves to compliance with legal requirements, but actively promote good governance not only within our own organization but also advocate the implementation of good governance structures at our portfolio companies. We strictly oppose any type of unethical business practices. Transparent decision-making processes, open communication and timely information are critical. This forms the basis for our working relationship with investors, management teams and business partners – it supports trustful and sustainable partnerships.

Relevant sustainability indicators include 

  • Implementation of Code of Conduct,
  • Risk management system,
  • Compliance training.

Integration of ESG standards at ECM

It is our conviction that a thorough review of the ESG aspects as laid out above provides for better investment decisions and impacts the development of our portfolio companies in a positive way. In this context, we have integrated ESG in the entire investment process. Early exclusions are made based on the exclusion list formalized in ECM’s ESG Policy. ECM has defined certain exclusion criteria, which prohibit any investment by our funds. Such exclusion criteria include gambling, pornography, controversial weapons and tobacco. Further exclusion criteria are serious misconduct in the areas of environmental, social or governance. This includes, for instance, the cause of environmental damages, misconduct against human rights or damage to customers based on inadequate product safety or data security. 

The Investment Committee always considers ESG as part of its investment decision process – ESG matters are an important aspect of the assessment of risks and value creation potentials. The assessment is always supported by internal and external ESG due diligence based on a clearly defined ESG scope. 

During the investment period, we support the management teams of our portfolio companies in developing suitable measures to achieve their ESG-related goals. It is our clear ambition to enable the companies to continuously improve their ESG performance.

to our ESG Report 2024

Sustainability-related Disclosures

In accordance with the EU Regulation on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector please find our mandatory disclosures here:

to the sustainability-related disclosures