Coller Capital’s 2025 ESG Report

What’s in a name?
Shakespeare famously used the phrase in Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet reflects on Romeo’s last name (Montague) and argues that even if he were called something else, his true qualities would remain.

While the term ‘ESG’ has become politically charged, I suspect alternatives will be similarly sensitive for some. However, getting side-tracked by semantics doesn’t help anyone. I admit I was not overly keen on ‘ESG’ when I first came across it in 2008. I felt it was too broad and that it would lead to a ‘dumbing down‘ on deeper subject matter expertise – being as it is an umbrella term for a wide array of often very complex and interdisciplinary issues.

I think that some dumbing down of the component parts of ESG has happened to a degree. However, we have lived with ‘ESG’ for a long time now and I’ve reached an accommodation with the term – viewing ESG (or rather relevant ESG factors) as a series of stepping stones for responsible investors to support a company embracing a more sustainable business model.

Which brings me back to Romeo and Juliet and the universal truth that it’s what’s under the skin that matters and that for ESG (or whatever term one chooses) what matters are the component parts – the environmental, social and governance impacts, risks and opportunities – that are relevant to a company.

How a company is affected by and affects ESG has intrigued me since my early academic studies, notably the broad applicability across the activities of a business – from products and services, people, suppliers and communities, licence to operate, risk management, financial impact and wider reputation.

The often complex challenge of adopting a more sustainable model of business is in my view more likely to be achieved when there is a centre of (ESG) excellence or competence to act as a guiding light for implementing policy and strategy.

One observation from a long career in sustainability and 10 years of producing this ESG Report is that being afforded access to in-house expertise (coming with in-house insights) can be invaluable when tackling complex ESG issues, advocating for and providing training in ESG and ultimately embedding ESG across a business.

Learning from the field of health and safety (itself a component ESG factor), success often arises when there is such core competence coupled with appropriate cross-functional responsibilities and a more (ESG) empowered workforce.

In my view, highlighting the value add and commercial applicability of relevant ESG factors, returning to deeper subject matter expertise and focusing on ‘what matters’ should help to address the concerns of sceptics, mitigate greenwash risk, and make clearer the role ESG can play when building better businesses.

Within private markets, ensuring a truly disciplined approach to the investment process is critical. We believe it is our process-driven approach, emphasis on integration (not a siloed mentality), and a focus on the relevant component parts of ESG that led to our inclusion in the Top 20 most influential in ESG by Private Equity News for the third year running, winning the Real Deals Sustainability Award (a second time) for ‘secondaries investor of the year‘, and once again receiving a high rating from the UN-PRI during 2025.

We look forward to the year ahead and sharing further updates in our next Report.