Stafford has been committing capital into sustainable investments since its foundation. The societal impact objective of these investments varies significantly from mandates looking to increase investments in certain locales or groups, to mandates and funds seeking to support green or cleantech investments. In 2003 we started investing in the timberland sector which has been increasingly recognised for its sustainable characteristics, most significantly through its ability to sequester carbon. Through our sustainability focused private equity programs we have raised more than USD 1.5 billion for sustainability-themed investments since 2004. Our track record includes primary and secondary commitments to more than 75 different private equity and infrastructure funds active in the cleantech and sustainability space. We have also made dozens of co-investments into sustainability focused companies alongside our investee fund managers.

With the SDGs, Stafford sees the opportunity to utilize a single framework for measurement and reporting of the varied investment programs we manage and for this framework to be widely accepted and understood by our investors, fund managers, underlying asset managers, and others. Against this backdrop, we are committed to incorporating the SDGs into our investment processes and portfolios across all business units. More specifically, we conduct SDG analysis in our due diligence, and post-investment, we identify relevant SDG targets for each portfolio company and monitor their progress over time. As part of the assessment, the deal teams examine underlying portfolio company reports, policies, sustainability initiatives, news and press releases, alongside sector analysis and discussions with the GPs or company management.

Overall, products and mandates that Stafford manages across its five business lines (timberland, infrastructure, agriculture& food, private equity and private credit) contributed mostly to the SDGs referring to Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure (SDG 9), Responsible consumption & production (SDG 12), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and Good Health & Well Being (SDG 3) at the end of 2021. Underlying assets and portfolio companies (such as Fast Pace - see case study) contribute to the realization of the targets pertaining to the SDGs primarily through their products and services (in 88% of the cases) and less so through their policies (7%) and operations (5%).

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

United Nations Member States have adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. It provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Stafford Impact Reporting Framework (SIRF)

In 2018 Stafford developed an assessment framework to solidify the definition of sustainability and help determine the contribution of a potential investment to the SDGs. With this proprietary Impact Reporting Framework, we can assess the alignment of portfolios managed across business lines with the 17 SDGs and their corresponding 169 targets. Each investee company or asset is assigned one or more SDG target, whereby the alignment can be assessed as minimal, moderate or significant and categorised based on impact source (business model, policy & initiatives or operations).