Investor-focused sustainability data provider Net Purpose announced today the acquisition of the Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP), in a move the company said is aimed at creating a unified standard to accelerate investing to achieve climate and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Launched in 2020 by pension asset managers APG, AustralianSuper, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) and PGGM, SDI AOP was established to enable investors to assess companies on their contribution to the SDGs, the 17 categories of goals adopted as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the aim to protect the planet and improve the quality of life globally, with targets such as ending poverty and hunger, improving education, and protecting the environment.
London-based Net Purpose was founded in 2019 to help investors launch, grow and report on sustainable and impact funds. The company’s platform enables investors to select sustainability goals or standards and track portfolio performance against them, and to access investment-grade data on the social and environmental outcomes of companies and portfolios, as well as to report on the outcomes and assess performance against benchmarks.
The new combined company will be led by Net Purpose’s founder and CEO, Samantha Duncan. According to Net Purpose, the transaction will create one of the largest independent providers of sustainable development data, serving investors and asset owners representing over $40 trillion in assets under management.
Duncan said:
“Net Purpose was established to help mobilise trillions to achieve the SDGs, and make sustainable and impact investing more effortless for investors. We are honoured to join forces with four of the largest and most sophisticated sustainable investors in the world in this next chapter, and we applaud the high standard they have set for sustainable investing. Let’s align around common standards, and accelerate investments to achieve sustainable goals.”
Under the terms of the transaction, APG, AustralianSuper, BCI and PGGM will continue to play an active role in the combined platform’s strategy and methodology, including representation on the Net Purpose Board. Net Purpose said that it will bring the SDI AOP methodology, data processing and customer functions in-house, and launch enhanced SDG classifications on the Net Purpose platform.
Claudia Kruse, Chief Sustainability & Strategy Officer at APG and Chair of the Asset Owner Platform for Sustainable Development Investments (SDI AOP), said:
“The SDI AOP was established by APG, PGGM, BCI and AustralianSuper to create a shared understanding of investments that contribute to the SDGs, and to help identify Sustainable Development Investments (SDIs). Five years in, we are thrilled to have built a committed community of clients with whom we have set a global standard. We are incredibly excited for this next chapter of the SDI AOP, and to unite with Net Purpose on our shared mission and goals.”
