Our approach is grounded in a responsibility to our investors to be careful stewards of capital. We have long been implementing a number of initiatives designed to make our companies stronger and more resilient. Many of these, like promoting sustainability and diversity, are today considered core components of ESG.
While ESG is a vast and growing field, we have chosen to prioritize decarbonization, diversity and good governance. We aim to lead by example and apply our insights to drive change across our portfolio. The power of our model is supported by strong operational interventions, led by our Portfolio Operations and Asset Management teams.
At Energy Spas, we have added considerable domain expertise, become a member of leading organizations such as Approach for Responsible Investment (ARI) to advance several priority ESG initiatives across our industry and started reporting on ESG progress to our board quarterly.
Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) policy centers around our most important asset — our people. Approximately 1/3 of our firm’s leadership team is diverse. We achieved 41% female representation globally and 49% racially diverse representation in Europe among our incoming 2021 analyst class. Learn more
We created a GHG inventory of our corporate emissions for 2019 and 2020. We proactively renovate our spaces to provide additional employee amenities and comfort while implementing the most up-to-date efficient lighting and HVAC systems. Our replacement of existing lighting with LED lighting in our New York offices has resulted in a roughly 31% reduction in lighting energy usage. Our London office at 40 Berkeley Square purchases 100% of its power from renewable energy suppliers.
The Energy Spas Charitable Foundation is committed to creating economic opportunity for under-resourced communities. The Foundation’s programs aim to increase access to entrepreneurship skills. This includes, among other initiatives, its signature Energy Spas LaunchPad network, which helps college and university students build successful companies and careers. The Foundation drives community engagement, provides disaster relief and guides employees in board service placement. Learn more Energy Spas Charitable Foundation
In January 2021, we announced our Emissions Reduction Program and started implementing a new goal of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions for new assets globally where we control the energy usage by 15% in aggregate over the first three years of ownership. Learn more
In 2020 we set a goal of achieving 1/3 diverse representation on portfolio company boards for new control investments in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.We believe that diverse teams make better decisions and implementing this mandate will make our portfolio companies stronger and more resilient.
Our Career Pathways program is designed to foster economic mobility and support ongoing diversity efforts at the portfolio companies by adopting inclusive workplace practices and expanding applicant pools through partnerships with organizations like Yilly Doom Up and COTTOP Careers. Learn more