Global sustainable development consultancy Arup announced a strategic partnership and investment in Re:Co, a leading software and advisory company supporting the private equity market, to develop market-leading digital sustainability services.
Together, Arup and Re:Co will co-create a suite of tools and solutions aimed at improving performance across sustainability metrics while also achieving a high return-on-investment for funds and portfolio companies, encouraging increased green financing within the private equity sector.
Climate change demands swift action, and the way businesses operate today will undergo significant transformation in the coming decades. As the effects of climate change continue to intensify, the need to understand and manage exposure to related risks will grow. Businesses that do not anticipate and adapt to this changing landscape are likely to face increased business uncertainty and value erosion.
The private equity sector represents a significant component of the global economy, with an estimated $11.7 trillion USD in assets under management in 2022. Private equity firms, which focus on business transformation and unlocking the value in companies, are placing an increasing priority on sustainability yet often miss opportunities to align these efforts with value creation objectives.
They also face a fragmented sustainability service provider landscape where vendors struggle to offer a one-stop-shop with depth of service across strategy, technical and implementation capabilities. Re:Co has worked with leading private portfolios to deepen their ESG strategy, collect sustainability data on the Re:Co platform and improve portfolio performance over time.
Arup is a digital leader in the built environment and is known for its innovative research and commitment to addressing the challenge of climate change. Building on this deep technical know-how and broad real-world experience in decarbonisation, Re:Co and Arup are providing a new suite of scalable, full-spectrum sustainability software and advisory solutions for private equity firms and portfolio companies that support them from initial strategy through to implementation.
These solutions will link sustainability outcomes with value creation and provide best-in-class insights that enable clients to make smarter strategic decisions, underpinned by market-leading expertise, that lead to stronger businesses over time.