Environmental, Social and Governance
SEAF’s policy, for all of the investment funds it manages, is to ensure to the best of its abilities that investments under consideration are environmentally and socially sound and sustainable. Every reasonably justified effort will be made during the pre-investment due diligence process to identify possible adverse environmental consequences associated with each potential investment and to take them into careful consideration in the investment decision. Upon making an investment, SEAF’s Funds will continue, when appropriate, to monitor and mitigate the negative environmental effects of the Investee’s ongoing operations.
SEAF notes that ESG requirements will vary in the regions it operates. For example, SEAF applauds the new Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”) from the European Union and is working to incorporate many of its tenets. While SEAF is not subject to the full application of SFDR at this time, under its guidelines it looks forward to continuing to work with industry experts on sustainability disclosure at both our firm and product level. SEAF is committed to constantly shaping and improving its ESG and compliance work and transparency across all operational regions.
Environmental Management is valuable to both SEAF and SEAF portfolio companies for the following reasons:
- Improves ability to access capital (environmental and social monitoring is becoming a standard for international financial institutions);
- Improves perception of SEAF among host countries and donors;
- Reduces legal, operational and financial risks of SEAF investments;
- May improve access to markets with strong environmental regulations (for example the EU);
- Attractive to strategic investors (exit point of view);
- In line with SEAF’s social mission.