EQT’s chief executive, Christian Sinding, is not keen for the private markets colossus to raise a dedicated energy transition fund. “We are doing a lot in [the energy transition] space already. So, to have a dedicated fund towards it, [that] would be just too complicated actually. We are already all over it,” Sinding said at the firm’s H1 financial report call on Thursday.

EQT addresses decarbonisation across its €73 billion portfolio, said Sinding: “If you think about our investment strategies that encompass venture capital growth, private equity, but in particular, infrastructure and active core infrastructure… a lot [of our investments] are about the energy transition.

“We have electrical vehicle charging networks. We have solar and wind manufacturers. We have waste to energy. We do a lot with transportation: we own two ferry companies in the Nordic region that are leaders in electrifying ferries, which is really great for society. We own the world’s largest yellow school bus company in the US – 60,000 buses that we are also committed to electrifying and driving transition that way.”

On EQT’s real estate strategy, which focuses on logistics and closed its second fund at €1 billion in 2020, Sinding said: “Our model… includes driving more energy-friendly solutions into all the buildings, which is increasingly important for lowering costs with the energy crisis that we have, while also becoming more sustainable.”

In October 2021, EQT became the first private equity firm to receive approval for its decarbonisation targets from the Science-Based Targets initiative. SBTi’s criteria for private equity firms include setting Scope 1 and 2 decarbonisation targets in controlled portfolio companies. “We have committed that every single portfolio company will set their own Science Based Targets based on a timeline per company. We own 180 companies, so it is quite a job, and it is happening on a timeline,” said Sinding in last week’s call. “I do not have the exact goal for the end of the year, but it is something that our teams and portfolio of companies are working very hard on.”

EQT is currently raising an “impact-driven” fund with $4 billion target. The EQT Future fund has a mandate to transform the sustainability performance of mature companies with turnovers of more than €400 million and “market-shaping impact potential”. Areas of sustainability performance improvement include decarbonisation, increasing employee wellbeing and gender diversity. The vehicle has a 12-year fund life and the option of three one-year extensions. The firm is also targeting €21.5 billion for its 10th flagship private equity fund.