For Green Growth Equity Fund, India’s first dedicated climate change fund, looking at investments with a gender lens forms a natural part of their investment strategy – not least because of the many and varied roles of women across their portfolio.
“We believe that for any business to be profitable it needs to be inclusive”, explains Tejaswini Kamat, Vice President for ESG and Impact at EverSource Capital, the company managing the fund.
“While we tackle climate change through our investments, women will invariably be involved as either workers or business leaders, clients, affected community members or other stakeholders. That’s why we believe women’s participation across all stages of business – from design and construction to implementation, evaluation and monitoring – will ensure well-informed decisions and desired outcomes.”
The fund has a comprehensive gender action plan in place to implement their gender diversity goals and already meets several of the 2X Criteria. This includes women filling 30 per cent of senior management positions and a 54 per cent share of women in the workforce. On top of that, at least a third of the fund’s portfolio companies meet the 2X Challenge standard.
One such company is an e-mobility platform which recently launched 700 state-of-the-art zero-emission electric buses and charging infrastructure across 14 cities in Uttar Pradesh, a developing state in India. They’ve established a team of women drivers and have also set up a training centre where women can seek jobs as drivers, attendants, or ticketing staff at the depot.
“This will not just advance female employment in the region but will also enhance women’s safety and security in the local transport sector as a whole”, says Kamat.
“I don’t think climate and gender should be compartmentalised in to two separate silos. Gender will invariably be impacted while investing in climate and hence it should be considered core and central. Women will also be disproportionately impacted by climate change and they will be instrumental in creating and delivering the solutions.”
