Our Commitment to accelerate the transition to clean energy

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCELERATE THE TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY

The urgent need to plot a route toward carbon neutrality touches every area of our activities, from the investments we make to the way Ardian operates day to day.

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Shifting the global energy system from its dependency on fossil fuels to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is one of the greatest challenges facing the world.

Ardian publicly reaffirmed its commitment to taking decisive action on climate change in November 2020, when alongside four other global private investment firms, it co‑founded the One Planet Private Equity Funds initiative.

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“We see hydrogen as a critical enabler of the global energy transition. Estimates advocate it could meet about a third of total energy demand by 2050.”

Amir Sharifi, Managing Director and Energy Transition Lead, Ardian Infrastructure

7.5GW

We own 7.5GW of renewable generation assets, the equivalent of 7 nuclear reactors

GREEN HYDROGEN, RENEWABLES AND BATTERY STORAGE

During 2020, Ardian Infrastructure broadened its exposure to the energy transition value chain and appointed a senior executive to lead our work in this area.
We established Ardian’s presence in green hydrogen through EWE, our Germany utility company, and began a second green hydrogen venture in Italy via our partnership with A2A. We also made our first investment in battery storage, through a new partnership with Enel X in Ontario, Canada.

“Our Sustainability engagement program establishes ambitious roadmaps to support our portfolio companies to reduce carbon emissions, manage climate-related risks and opportunities and set targets to operate in a low-carbon economy.”

Candice Brenet, Managing Director and Head of Sustainability

Focus on MAPLE LEAF (Ontario, Canada)

with Philip Martin, Vice President at ENEL X

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SUSTAINABILITY PLANS

Making progress toward carbon neutrality is a critical element of Ardian’s sustainability plans, which we develop hand in hand with all our portfolio companies.
During 2020, our Infrastructure and Sustainability teams launched a working group of portfolio companies active in the transport sector to focus on key sustainability issues, including cutting carbon emissions.

Martin Mugica

Chief Executive Officer of Skyline Renewables, Ardian’s US renewable energy platform

“We have a huge opportunity to grow in America. When I came to the US in 2006, renewables supplied 1 to 2% of the electricity. Last year, we were delivering around 11% and the new administration has pledged to decarbonize the power industry by 2035, so this has to grow a lot, especially as we decarbonize transport.”

CREATING DIGITAL TOOLS FOR CLIMATE

AirCarbon, created by the Ardian Infrastructure team, takes automated data feeds from multiple sources and combines the information to calculate emissions from aircraft movements, ground operations, terminal buildings and services, and passenger travel to and from the airport. After demonstrating AirCarbon, we are now working on a similar tool, CarCarbon, to measure CO² emissions from road traffic.

THE OPTA PROJECT

The renewable energy market has changed rapidly over the past decade: markets are transitioning out of subsidies, energy prices have fallen and in many places renewables are now more competitive than fossil-fuel generation. To create additional value and monitor and manage technical and market risks, Ardian Infrastructure has created Opta, an online monitoring platform.

“Tools like Opta will help accelerate the energy transition – through advanced analytics and enhanced risk monitoring, our renewable assets will one day arbitrate efficiently between selling and storing electricity.”

Marion Calcine, Chief Investment Officer, Ardian Infrastructure

Transport companies share best practices to meet sustainability challenges

The Transport Working Group allows executives from portfolio companies to meet regularly, share experiences and identify ideas to boost sustainability performance.

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In a nutshell

ARDIAN IN 2020

1,000+

investors

$11 Bn

raised in 2020

$8,7 Bn

distributed to our investors in 2020

$5,7 Bn

invested through our Fund of Funds platform across 44 primary commitments and 7 secondary transactions in 2020

$8,8 Bn

invested across our Direct, Infrastructure, Private Debt and Real Estate activities in 92 transactions, of which 50 were build-ups in 2020

+24,500

employees of 34 portfolio companies have benefited from profit-sharing at exit by Ardian since 2008, receiving the equivalent of 1 to 6 months’ salary

WHY INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY ARE CRUCIAL TO ARDIAN’S FUTURE

Listen to the podcast with
Amy Hepburn, Chief Executive Officer of Investor Leadership Network

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