CVCA Event Takeaways

Invest Canada Webinar Series Recap: Driving Sustainability at Private Capital Firms through Digitization

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Any route to achieving net-zero (the state in which the greenhouse gases (GHG) going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere) by 2050 requires reducing the present emission levels by two-thirds by the year 2030. This transformation requires replacing the global economy with non-emissive technologies while simultaneously decarbonizing the emissive industries, at scale.

In a fireside chat with CVCA’s CEO Kim Furlong on January 12, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Private Equity group’s Principal for Sustainability, Pankaj Sehgal, outlined:

  • the implications for net-zero for the venture capital and private sectors;
  • the inter-relationship of sustainability transition and digital transition; and,
  • how AWS is supporting private capital clients through this transition to meet their sustainability goals.

From the Webinar: 

  • To reach our 2030 and 2050 goals the world needs to transition to clean technologies or decarbonize the carbon assets in the world
  • How will this transition impact GPs? In four main areas:
    • The need to measure, disclose and reduce your greenhouse emissions.
    • To reach net-zero, on all levels, would need to adjust their roadmap to meeting net-zero by 2030.
    • Carbon accounting will inevitably become part of corporate finance – how we value companies and our due diligence process. 
    • There’s a pivot in the sectors where investors are investing — from investment into traditional oil and gas businesses to more renewable businesses (but not absolute). Renewable businesses will become much more investable.

Watch the webinar recording on-demand to find out more about sustainability, ESG, the route to net-zero, and how it will impact the private capital industry: