measurement & reporting

In brief: The drawback of joining EDCI, according to one GP

Being a member leads to more data requests from investors, one ESG professional says.

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Although the ESG Data Convergence Initiative has been widely lauded by private equity firms and investors, there is a drawback to joining it, according to one GP’s sustainability head.

“Last year, we had a data collection process aligned with the ESG Data Convergence [Initiative], but then we joined as members and now we’re on the EDCI landing page as members. Now, all of a sudden, we get a ton of requests from investors asking to see all our [EDCI] data,” said the ESG professional. “In 2023, to date, I have completed 17 investment questionnaires asking for our EDCI data.”

The ESG professional was speaking at PEI Group’s Responsible Investment Forum, which saw hundreds of ESG professionals in private markets gather last week in San Francisco. The conference was conducted under Chatham House rules, meaning comments could not be attributed to speakers.

EDCI has seen widespread uptake across the private markets industry: it has 240 GP members and 110 LP and investment manager members.