9.4.2026
16.4.2026
From commitment to evidence: what Invest Europe's 2026 ESG KPI Report reveals about private equity's progress
Event Date:
May 7, 2026
KEY ESG is delighted to host Francesco Lappano, Senior Research Officer at Invest Europe, for an exclusive deep-dive into the findings of the newly released 2026 ESG KPI Report - now in its fourth year and covering the largest dataset to date: 1,206 firms, 4,039 funds, and 8,756 portfolio companies.
What the data shows
- 1,206 PE & VC firms covered, the largest sample to date
- 36% of portfolio companies have an environmental management system in place
- 21% have committed to Net Zero, with 4% targeting net zero before 2030
- 75% have a cybersecurity risk policy, up 7pp from 2023
- 37% of FTE roles held by women; female board representation at 17%, both down 1pp year on year
- Among funds launched in 2023-2024, Article 8 already accounts for 53% of active funds
Why attend?
Four years of consistent data collection now allows for meaningful trend analysis, not just snapshots. This session goes beyond the headline numbers to explore what's actually shifting year on year, where progress is stalling, and what the data tells us about how private equity firms and their portfolio companies are responding to an increasingly demanding ESG landscape.
What you'll learn
- Net Zero ambitions vs. real-world progress
With 21% of portfolio companies now committed to Net Zero, rising to 30% among buyouts, how is the industry actually tracking against those targets? We'll examine renewable energy adoption trends, where carbon intensity is improving, and what the data reveals about the gap between commitments and measurement.
- Diversity: steady but stalled?
Women hold 37% of FTE roles and 17% of board seats at PE/VC-backed companies - both figures down 1 percentage point on 2023. With board composition directly within GP control, the absence of progress there is particularly notable. The session will explore what the data tells us about where diversity progress is, and isn't, happening across stages, sectors, and regions.
- Governance on the rise
Anti-corruption policies are up 6 percentage points and cybersecurity measures up 7 points year on year. We'll look at what's driving this acceleration in governance adoption and where the remaining gaps lie. We'll also examine the SFDR classification trend: among funds launched in 2023-2024, Article 8 already accounts for 53% of active funds, up from 9% for pre-2007 vintages, a shift that has significant implications for how portfolio-level ESG data needs to be structured and evidenced.
- Four years of data: what the trend lines tell us
With the 2026 report representing the fourth consecutive year of data collection and a 27% increase in companies covered, what can we now say with confidence about the direction of ESG adoption in European private capital, and what should firms be prioritising next?
There will be time for Q&A at the end, so bring your questions.
Your speaker
Francesco Lappano
Senior Research Officer, Invest Europe
Francesco is a Senior Research Officer at Invest Europe, where he works on the analysis and reporting of European private equity and venture capital activity, with a focus on ESG data, industry trends, and institutional engagement. He contributes to publications used by institutional investors and European policymakers, and works closely with stakeholders to improve ESG data collection across platforms.
Anne-Marie Schoonbeek
Co-Founder and COO, KEY ESG
Anne-Marie Schoonbeek is Co-Founder and COO of KEY ESG. Before co-founding the company, she was a manager at McKinsey & Company in New York and Amsterdam, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Financial Economics from the London School of Economics.
About Invest Europe
Invest Europe is the world's largest association of private capital providers, representing private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure investment firms, as well as their investors, including Europe's largest pension funds and insurers. Their annual ESG KPI Report is the definitive benchmark for ESG measurement and reporting across the European private capital industry.
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KEY ESG is delighted to host Francesco Lappano, Senior Research Officer at Invest Europe, for an exclusive deep-dive into the findings of the newly released 2026 ESG KPI Report - now in its fourth year and covering the largest dataset to date: 1,206 firms, 4,039 funds, and 8,756 portfolio companies.
What the data shows
- 1,206 PE & VC firms covered, the largest sample to date
- 36% of portfolio companies have an environmental management system in place
- 21% have committed to Net Zero, with 4% targeting net zero before 2030
- 75% have a cybersecurity risk policy, up 7pp from 2023
- 37% of FTE roles held by women; female board representation at 17%, both down 1pp year on year
- Among funds launched in 2023-2024, Article 8 already accounts for 53% of active funds
Why attend?
Four years of consistent data collection now allows for meaningful trend analysis, not just snapshots. This session goes beyond the headline numbers to explore what's actually shifting year on year, where progress is stalling, and what the data tells us about how private equity firms and their portfolio companies are responding to an increasingly demanding ESG landscape.
What you'll learn
- Net Zero ambitions vs. real-world progress
With 21% of portfolio companies now committed to Net Zero, rising to 30% among buyouts, how is the industry actually tracking against those targets? We'll examine renewable energy adoption trends, where carbon intensity is improving, and what the data reveals about the gap between commitments and measurement.
- Diversity: steady but stalled?
Women hold 37% of FTE roles and 17% of board seats at PE/VC-backed companies - both figures down 1 percentage point on 2023. With board composition directly within GP control, the absence of progress there is particularly notable. The session will explore what the data tells us about where diversity progress is, and isn't, happening across stages, sectors, and regions.
- Governance on the rise
Anti-corruption policies are up 6 percentage points and cybersecurity measures up 7 points year on year. We'll look at what's driving this acceleration in governance adoption and where the remaining gaps lie. We'll also examine the SFDR classification trend: among funds launched in 2023-2024, Article 8 already accounts for 53% of active funds, up from 9% for pre-2007 vintages, a shift that has significant implications for how portfolio-level ESG data needs to be structured and evidenced.
- Four years of data: what the trend lines tell us
With the 2026 report representing the fourth consecutive year of data collection and a 27% increase in companies covered, what can we now say with confidence about the direction of ESG adoption in European private capital, and what should firms be prioritising next?
There will be time for Q&A at the end, so bring your questions.
Your speaker
Francesco Lappano
Senior Research Officer, Invest Europe
Francesco is a Senior Research Officer at Invest Europe, where he works on the analysis and reporting of European private equity and venture capital activity, with a focus on ESG data, industry trends, and institutional engagement. He contributes to publications used by institutional investors and European policymakers, and works closely with stakeholders to improve ESG data collection across platforms.
Anne-Marie Schoonbeek
Co-Founder and COO, KEY ESG
Anne-Marie Schoonbeek is Co-Founder and COO of KEY ESG. Before co-founding the company, she was a manager at McKinsey & Company in New York and Amsterdam, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Financial Economics from the London School of Economics.
About Invest Europe
Invest Europe is the world's largest association of private capital providers, representing private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure investment firms, as well as their investors, including Europe's largest pension funds and insurers. Their annual ESG KPI Report is the definitive benchmark for ESG measurement and reporting across the European private capital industry.
