EQT is swelling its ESG ranks with two newly created senior sustainability roles. Bahare Haghshenas will be the firm’s global head of sustainable transformation and a member of its ‘extended executive committee’; and Sophie Walker is the new head of sustainability for EQT’s private capital segment, which includes the firm’s private equity and venture capital strategies.

Copenhagen-based Haghshenas will join EQT in September and report directly to CEO Christian Sinding. She is currently a partner and executive director of Deloitte’s innovation hub Acacia. Haghshenas explained in a September 2020 article on LinkedIn that Acacia aims to “catalyze sustainable transformation” in companies.

London-based Walker joined EQT this month and reports to Per Franzen, head of the firm’s private capital segment. Walker was previously head of sustainability and a board member at JLL, a real estate and investment management firm based in Chicago.

EQT already has a two-person sustainability team, including Stockholm-based Therése Lennehag as head of sustainability, according to the firm’s website. The sustainability team’s role is “to disseminate knowledge within the EQT organization, bring more diverse perspectives to the table and inspire action within EQT,” according to the firm’s May 2021 Sustainability-linked Financing Framework report.

“I am happy to welcome both Bahare and Sophie to EQT,” Sinding said in a statement. “EQT has always had a purpose-driven approach to investments, but we aim to play a far more active role in driving impactful transformation within both businesses and industries at large.”

EQT recently raised €15.6 billion for its ninth private equity fund. This year, Sinding wrote in New Private Markets about the firm’s commitment to sustainability across its entire portfolio.