iCI launches Asia-Pacific chapter to extend global push for private market climate ambition

iCI signatories have a critical role to play in reducing the carbon emissions of private companies and securing sustainable investment performance by managing climate related risks.

The new Asia-Pacific chapter follows the launch of the initiative’s North American chapter earlier this year and sits alongside the longer-standing European chapter, emphasizing the global perspective iCI brings to engaging its broad member base and standardizing best practice across private markets.

“Climate change is a global challenge requiring a truly international response and this launch is an important step to harness and build on the collective efforts of private market firms and professionals across Asia Pacific. I am delighted to be part of this expansion and to contribute to increasing climate action across private markets,”

said Jie Gong, Partner at global private markets firm Pantheon and Co-Head of its ESG Committee, who will chair the Asia-Pacific chapter of the iCI. Jie was previously a global committee member of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Private Equity Advisory Committee. She also founded and chairs the ESG Committee of the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, of which she is Vice Chair.

The launch of the Asia-Pacific chapter is further supported by Eimear Palmer, Pantheon’s newly appointed Global Head of ESG. Eimear previously co-founded the UK network of iCI, and recently served as co-Chair of the iCI Carbon Footprint Working Group, which partnered with ERM earlier in 2022 to develop and release the first standard for greenhouse gas disclosure across private markets.

Members of the iCI form a global, practitioner-led community of private market firms and investors that seek to better understand and manage the risks associated with climate change. Members commit to sharing knowledge, experience and best practice, and to working together to develop resources that will help standardize practices on climate risk mapping, disclosure and target-setting in private markets. iCI is a supporting partner of The Investor Agenda and, is a PRI-supported initiative.

Commenting on the launch, Peter Dunbar, Head of Private Equity at the PRI, said:

“The degree of interest for a network in APAC, where in some markets there has historically been less focus on climate action, that supports collective ambition on climate across the private equity sector is very encouraging. The practitioner support and peer-to-peer collaboration among private equity firms that iCI enables are crucial as there is still much work to be done. The private equity industry still has some distance to travel regarding setting and realising climate goals, and iCI helps accelerate this process.”

Globally, iCI now has 206 members managing over $3 trillion in assets. As of today, members based in the Asia-Pacific region include:

Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact:

Ashley Wassall, Head of Client Communications, Pantheon

Tel: +44 20 3356 1763 | C: +44 7776 778 620 | Email: [email protected]

Rojin Kiadeh, Acting Head of Press, PRI

Email: [email protected]

About iCI

The Initiative Climat International (iCI) is a global community of private markets investors who seek to display leadership in improving the industry’s understanding and management of the risks and opportunities associated with climate change. iCI was originally launched as the iC20 (Initiative Climat 2020) in 2015 by a group of French private equity firms with the aim to contribute to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to what we now know must be 1.5 degrees Celsius or below.

iCI is open to all private market firms and investors to join, with a key benefit of the membership being that members who are early in their climate journey can learn from those whose practices have become more advanced over time. iCI is a Supporting Partner of The Investor Agenda, and is officially endorsed by the Principles for Responsible Investment, who provide strategic and secretariat support. The network’s information and resources are hosted on the PRI online Collaboration Platform. In addition, iCI is supported by organizations such as Ceres and CDP, and endorsed by industry associations such as France Invest, British Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, and Hong Kong Venture Capital & Private Equity Association.

iCI commitments