SAIL Investments

SAIL Investments (“SAIL“)¹ was founded in 2017 and is a global sustainable investment manager in private markets, headquartered in The Netherlands. Since inception, SAIL has, through its investments, protected 3.1 million ha of natural tropical forest, generated climate benefits of 13.2 million tCO2e and benefitted 68,217 people, whilst protecting biodiversity through its unique‚ Biodiversity Net Gain approach. Based on our investments to date, the forests protected store over a billion tCO2. SAIL‘s key strategic approach is to embed, pre-investment, a robust sustainability framework and transition plan within its target investee companies‘ growth plans. By doing so, SAIL enhances the company‘s market position, driving margin growth and ultimately economic value for SAIL‘s investees. SAIL delivers ecosystem conservation, climate benefit and inclusion KPI reporting, based on third-party assured KPIs. The global private credit strategy is SFDR Article 9 compliant, covers SDGs 2; 5; 6; 8; 12; 13; 15 and 17 and reports under UNPRI, TNFD and TCFD.

By financing sustainable growth, Climate Alpha is turning the ‘sustainability agenda’ into an alpha generating machine. SAIL’s Climate Alpha strategy aims to deliver better risk-adjusted total returns exactly because of the sustainability transition its borrowers are investing in. They are increasing their market access in core buyer markets (e.g. Europe/UK/US), managing their climate risks (i.e. increasing resilience), and ultimately becoming more robust businesses.  SAIL’s approach of sustainability safeguarding coupled with setting clear transition planning into motion with the borrower sets them on track to value creation. SAIL‘s strategic approach to investing is to incorporate, pre-investment, a robust sustainability framework and transition plan into its target investee companies‘ growth plans. SAIL‘s sustainability framework, builds on existing‚ best-in-class‘ systems and adapts these for the Food and Agri transition. The borrower, with support from SAIL‘s sustainability team, will build a framework including: Institutional-level Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS):  Designed in accordance with IFC Performance Standards as well as best practices of ESG management for Funds, such as those provided by leading development finance institutes (FMO, BII, etc.), IUCN and other toolkits. Environmental & Social (“E&S”) risk safeguarding: SAIL performs a detailed ESDD (covering all IFC Performance Standards) during deal execution phase, and from that develops an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) which details out E&S risks, but also gaps in the borrowers’ processes and milestones for addressing them. Safeguards cover: Labour, OHS, indigenous people, biodiversity (incl SAIL’s Biodiversity Action Plan), Gender, and contractual warranties for Human Rights. Public Disclosure: the borrower needs to agree to a public disclosure that they will protect forest (no-deforestation), valuable ecosystems (e.g. no peatland destruction), and provide for no exploitation (social safeguarding). This is a requirement for all borrowers. The disclosure links to the monitoring process and specifically the transition plan (where the plan to deliver this commitment is detailed out). The ESMS, E&S safeguarding (incl ESAP), and public disclosure requirements form part of the Sustainability Maintenance Covenants.  Beyond E&S risk safeguarding, and supporting the building of what is essentially a management system (ESMS) for the borrower, SAIL sets forward looking milestones and targets with each borrower, which ultimately get captured within the Sustainability Transition Covenants in the loan agreement with the borrower.  This transition plan is also an output of the ESDD process and typically covers factors such as: Traceability target setting, Biodiversity Net Gain Strategy, Supply chain mapping, engagement and tracking. Post-investment, SAIL‘s sustainability effort remains engaged via: Verification. Transaction-level independent verification annually through global big-four consultant. (SFDR Art. 9 compliant.) Assurance. SAIL‘s auditors (KPMG) provide a Sustainability Assurance process on the portfolio. Corporate Safeguards. Public corporate commitment to No Deforestation, No development on Peatland and no Exploitation (NDPE) following WWF-convened Accountability Framework, or no conversion. Quarterly and annual impact reporting. Reporting under PRI, TNFD, TCFD and SFDR (Article 9).  Sustainability (directional!) KPIs: Natural Forests Conservation and Restoration: SAIL track the extent of natural forests its investees protect and restore, focusing on the forests' net positive biodiversity and the ecological services they provide. Climate Benefits: SAIL measure the greenhouse gas sequestration of forest protected and the reduction in greenhouse gases achieved through sustainable agriculture practices. Ecosystem Resilience: SAIL assess the extent to which ecosystems, including non-forest and agricultural areas, benefit from enhanced climate resilience through its Transition Plans (TPs). This includes improvements in forests, in other natural terrestrial ecosystems and agricultural areas. Improved Livelihoods: SAIL evaluate how people benefit from its investments, particularly in terms of essential community services, enhanced climate resilience, education, and capacity building.