Pollen Street Capital (Pollen Street) is delighted to share its second Annual ESG report. The report highlights the progress of Pollen Street Capital against its ESG priorities and impact agenda over the last year as well as providing more detail on its approach to sustainability and future goals.  

“There can be no denying the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on all our lives over the past year. Amongst the many changes seen as a result of the emergence of Covid-19 is a sharpened appetite for sustainability at local, national, and global levels,” said Lindsey McMurray, Managing Partner, Pollen Street Capital.

“I am proud of the progress we have made over the past year, both in embedding ESG as an integral part of our investment process but also in rooting this thinking in our culture and raising awareness of the potential for positive impact for our industry as a whole.”

Among the focus areas covered in the report, key highlights from the past year include:

• Helping real people go green: Pollen Street has recently announced a new £75 million credit facility with all-inclusive electric vehicle (EV) subscription service Onto. The facility will enable Onto to significantly expand its electric vehicle fleet with capacity to acquire in excess of 3,000 vehicles.
• Financing for regional economic growth: 57% of real estate funding provided by Pollen Street through its credit partners in 2020 has gone to projects outside London.
• Establishing a carbon reduction strategy: Pollen Street commissioned an external environmental specialist, Clearstream Solutions, to assess the carbon footprint of the firm and its private equity portfolio. Pollen Street has now committed to be carbon neutral by the end of 2022.
• Covid-19 support and recovery: Pollen Street provided £195m via its credit partners to support SMEs through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) . CBILS were designed to provide financial support to smaller businesses across the UK to survive the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and recover afterwards.

In recognition of these efforts Pollen Street Capital was named Best Responsible Alternative Investment Team UK 2021 by Capital Finance International magazine.

Looking forward the firm has set an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2022 as well as establishing other areas of focus for the next year around best-in-class measurement and reporting, Diversity & Inclusion, culture and stewardship.

Lindsey McMurray commented: “At Pollen Street Capital we believe in the potential for positive impact through the work that we are passionate about. We are committed to maintaining and enhancing our focus on actions that generate positive impact for our investors, people, portfolio companies and wider society.”

Pollen Street Capital’s ESG report builds on the firm’s strong ESG foundations in strategy and reporting. Pollen Street Capital is a signatory of the UN Principles for Sustainable Investment and committed to Investing With Impact.

Future First

We also want to announce the launch of one our 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives with our Ten Years' Time charity partner – Future First. Future First have recently launched the “Future First Hub”. They want to make their network and content available to all children at all state schools.

To do this, they have a goal of raising £1m p.a. for the next 3 years, partnering with Corporate Sponsors. We already have strong support from leading Corporate Sponsors across our portfolio and beyond. We hope to drive real change and help all young people, especially disadvantaged ones, to open their mind to the opportunities that exist and give them a helping hand to pursue them. We aim to deliver real results during 2021 and build lasting impact across our communities with this Initiative. Please contact futurefirst@pollencap.com to find out more.