ESG KPI report 2025: Managing what you measure

Tackling climate change and standing strong on responsible investment themes, such as diversity and zero tolerance to corruption, are among the greatest challenges – and responsibilities – facing the European private equity industry today. These considerations are not only at the forefront of policymakers’ and investors’ minds, but also ever more central to consumers when they decide how to spend their money.

We are firm believers in the saying that you cannot manage what you don’t measure. With this in mind, Invest Europe established the ESG Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) study to track fund managers’ contribution to issues such as environmental impact, female participation, or combatting corruption. The aim is to measure the industry’s performance on issues that matter to society and policymakers, and to monitor progress on an annual basis.

For our third edition, we covered data from 1,167 European Private Equity and Venture Capital firms on 3,233 funds and 6,902 companies, all relating to ESG KPIs in 2023. Our findings show that 90% of firms for which data were received had ESG investment and portfolio management processes in place, including 97% of Buyout firm respondents, demonstrating the clear and established focus on ESG throughout the industry.

Our research goes deeper to show the practical efforts being made by managers and their real impact. Across all companies in our study, 33% had an Environmental management system in place, with the majority of those responding stating they were externally certified. It is observed that 17% of companies had already made the commitment to Net zero. The data also show that - on average - 38% of full-time equivalent roles in Private Equity and Venture Capital backed businesses were held by women – a figure that was similar across all investment stages and regions.

Every journey starts with a decisive step. Invest Europe’s ESG KPIs study is an ambitious project and does require time and effort from firms. There is more to do, and we expect participation in our study to increase as more managers get involved. Yet we also see the promise as Private Equity and Venture Capital managers establish policies to deliver and measure ESG results while also making firm commitments to addressing climate change. The direction of travel is already clearly defined. In time, ESG measurement and reporting will be as routine as tracking financial metrics.

Portfolio company level data

Environment

Social

Governance

Firm & fund level data

Th IE ESG KPI Report 2025 Firm And Fund Level Data

Firm & fund level data

Statistical universe

For this report, and in parallel to our ESG Reporting Guidelines workstream, we developed a process for collaborating with National Associations of the European Data Cooperative (EDC) to decide on which metrics to collect. Potential indicators were reviewed, discussed, and surveyed. Metrics considered were based on existing KPIs that GPs are already collecting rather than inventing new ESG metrics. This workstream led to data collection for a number of metrics.

We received data from 1,167 European private equity and venture capital firms on 3,233 funds and 6,902 portfolio companies, all relating to ESG KPIs in 2023. Given coverage levels, this third year of data collection cannot be considered as representative of the PE&VC industry as a whole. Figures presented throughout the report are the results received of those that answered the survey, sample sizes are given throughout for clarity.

Overview of submitted data - ESG survey

Headquarters of entities for which data was submitted

Focus of entities for which data was submitted

Methodology

This third edition of the ESG report from Invest Europe is the result of a process which began in early 2021. Recognising the need for the Private Equity & Venture Capital industry in Europe to be able to describe its work on ESG, collaborating National Associations of the European Data Cooperative began a process with Invest Europe which led to a first data collection on several metrics at firm, fund, and portfolio company level.

The process of selecting metrics involved a review of all current metrics in the space. Furthermore, discussions with GPs already well advanced on their ESG journey, meetings with service providers working with the industry, as well as an extensive survey to GPs were carried out. We surveyed about the extent to which they collect – or else in the future will look to collect – specific metrics from their portfolio companies.

Importantly, rather than inventing new ESG metrics this initiative bases its work on existing KPIs which GPs are already collecting from their portfolio companies.

All data were collected from GPs through the European Data Cooperative. It is important to note that – given submission levels – this third year of data collection cannot be considered as representative of the PE&VC industry as a whole. Figures presented throughout the report are based on the responses received from those who answered the survey. Sample sizes are given throughout for clarity.

The report includes data (1) only of portfolio companies with European headquarters¹ and (2) only European companies active during 2023 within the portfolio of a private equity investor had data collected (i.e., companies exited within 2022 or backed post-2023 were excluded). Similarly, the report includes (1) only the funds with advisory teams located in Europe and (2) funds active during 2023 (i.e., funds terminated within 2022 or launched post-2023 were excluded).

To ensure data correctness, consistency checks were performed on the data. Inconsistent data reported by co-investors were confirmed with public sources, if possible. In the cases where public sources were not available, the reporting value was taken from the GP with the most complete set of answers, in all cases with information being reviewed manually by analysts. To ensure the accuracy of Carbon emissions calculations, we conducted a statistical dispersion audit by employing the Interquartile Range (IQR) method, which effectively identified and excluded outliers from the analysis. For multiple answers submitted regarding the sustainable investment fund categorisation, the highest reported category was taken (for example, if a GP had answered their fund was Article 6 & 9, the fund was categorised as Article 9).

1. Europe includes: Austria, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the generous support of General Partners representing private equity and venture capital firms across Europe who provided us with their data. These pan-European statistics would not be possible without their commitment.

We also thank all the regional and national private equity associations formally partnering with Invest Europe as part of the European Data Cooperative (EDC).

Further thanks go to Astanor Ventures, EQT, IK Partners, Investindustrial, and TowerBrook Capital Partners for their insightful success stories.

The Invest Europe Research team is supported by PEREP Analytics.

PEREP Analytics

Statistics Manager

Iuliana Furica

Statistics Leads

Adriana Süket (Craciun)
Alexandra Ehupov
Cristina Toma-Porumboiu, Report Dedicated Lead

Statistics Team

Alexandra Nedea
Ana Cobuz
Andrei Apostol
Angela Sapun-Cucu
Bianca Ostropet
Bogdan Prundeanu
George Radulescu
Luiza Dima
Renata Sandulache, Report Dedicated Analyst
Silvia Costea
Stefania Lupulescu
Tiberiu Mihailescu
Valentin Lepadat