Expanding our knowledge

We are a small, values-driven team consisting of 16 people with experience in business development, entrepreneurship, corporate finance, legal, ESG, impact, financing, accountancy, and company valuations. Our strength lies in our expertise, which is why we prioritise continuous learning. Each employee has access to a budget and five days of work-related training each year. Development goals and needs are also part of each employee’s performance cycle. Additionally, each employee receives a budget for personal development, which can cover any topics of their interest, including courses targeting well-being or vitality.

In addition to field-specific expertise, we host sessions to deepen our shared understanding of the three pillars of our new strategy: biodiversity, climate and social equity. For instance, several experts from “We Are Impact Collective” led a session with our investment committee, exploring the ecological value of various habitats. This was followed by a workshop focused on evaluating our biodiversity efforts and assessing new investment opportunities in line with this theme. Also important were the sessions in which our investee and donation partners shared their impact insights – there’s always so much to learn.

Personalised vitality programme

We believe in supporting our employees in several aspects and phases of their lives. That is why, in 2023, we launched a new vitality initiative. Interested employees received a Fitbit and a personalised vitality programme, complete with tips on nutrition, sleep hygiene, and exercise. Additionally, free medical check-ups and therapy sessions were made available. After receiving enthusiastic feedback, we continued the programme into 2024 and will do so again in 2025.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

We walk our talk, so social equality, one of our investment themes, is also embedded in our own organisation. In 2024, we adopted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy to reinforce our commitment to social sustainability.

Our DEI policy provides a clear framework for putting these values into practice. Based on our 2023 data, we identified significant room for improvement, particularly in gender equality. At that time, women made up only a third of our team, and we reported a gender wage gap of 166%.

In 2024, we took meaningful steps towards greater gender balance. By the end of the year, women made up 50% of our overall workforce, 20% of our executive team, and 75% of our Supervisory Board. We also reduced the gender wage gap to 116%.

While these figures reflect real progress, we know there is more to do. We are committed to strengthening diversity across other dimensions too – including age, cultural background, religion, and sexual orientation. In the coming period, we will take further steps to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as reducing unconscious gender bias and developing more inclusive recruitment and leadership development practices.

We have set DEI targets for 2028:

• Achieve gender parity (50%) in senior leadership roles across our organisation and set equal diversity benchmarks for other characteristics, such as age and background.

• Allocate 40% of strategic donations to projects that promote social equality.

• Strive for gender balance within our portfolio companies and proactively steer investments toward advancing social equality.

To meet these goals, we’ll continue to improve how we track and report demographic data and will weave DEI principles into everything we do – from recruitment and training to decision-making and company culture. Our goal is to build a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Our CO₂ footprint

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2024 marked the first year in which the global average temperature reached 1.5°C above pre-industrial level. Mark Schravesande, Impact Manager: ‘This is a red flag that cannot be ignored. Scientists have identified 1.5°C as a threshold. Crossing it increases the risk of irreversible climate consequences, many of which are already becoming visible in nature and human life. Although the official temperature benchmark is calculated over a decade, this single-year record underlines the urgent need for action. There is still time to turn the tide, but the warning is clear.’

VP Capital is actively contributing to the climate transition. ‘Since 2018, we have calculated our climate footprint across all three scopes – 1, 2, and 3 – with support from CO2logic, a consultant specialising in environmental footprint measurement.’

Calculating these emissions, especially scope 3, remains complex due to the diversity of companies in our portfolio. To estimate our scope 3 emissions, we take the proportional equivalent of our investment into account. Mark Schravesande explains: ‘For example, if we hold a 10% stake in a company, we include 10% of their scope 1 and 2 emissions in our own scope 3 calculations.’

In previous years, we often relied on estimates or projections. However, more portfolio companies are now measuring and calculating their emissions, giving us better insight into our scope 3 footprint. ‘While this progress is encouraging, it also introduces challenges. We have not yet harmonised measurement methodologies across the portfolio, leading to discrepancies in how emissions are reported. Our aim is to align these methods in future years to further improve the accuracy of our reporting.’

Our emissions calculation yielded the following results: in 2024, our total carbon footprint (scope 1, 2 and 3) was 12,480 tCO₂ equivalent, marking a significant reduction compared to the previous year (-21%).

The breakdown by asset class is as follows:

• Due to the ambitious targets set by our direct participations, their total carbon footprint decreased by 18%.

• The CO2 emissions of our direct real estate fell by 9%, while the footprint of real estate funds increased by 27%, largely due to a change in the calculation method used by one of the funds.

• Emissions linked to our listed companies rose by 20%, reflecting a greater allocation to this asset class.

• Regarding the impact funds, we see a decrease in footprint by 34%.

• Non-impact funds recorded a 44% decline, in line with our reduced share in this asset class.

While we’re proud of this progress, we also acknowledge that reaching our 2030 targets will be challenging. The road ahead is steep, and we recognise that the most difficult part of the journey is still to come. We remain committed – but also realistic about the effort, collaboration, and innovation required to achieve our goals.

Our CO₂ reduction targets for 2030

We’ve developed a detailed roadmap with measurable targets. Our near-term goals for 2030 have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We’ve defined targets for all three scopes, breaking down scope 3 into two specific categories.

* Absolute reduction compared to 2019
** Percentage of organisations in the portfolio, based on invested capital
*** Relative reduction compared to 2019

SBTi has yet to release its final standard for science-based targets in the financial sector, aiming for net-zero by 2050. ‘We nevertheless remain fully committed to reducing our climate impact and moving towards net-zero.’

Contributing to climate

As part of our journey toward net-zero, we continue to take responsibility for the emissions we have not yet been able to eliminate – not by claiming neutrality, but by contributing meaningfully to global climate solutions. Mark Schravesande: ‘Over the past years, we partnered with CO2logic, successfully earning their carbon-neutral certification for four consecutive years.’ We have compensated emissions by supporting high-integrity climate projects around the world, carefully screened by CO2logic.

Although this was an important foundation, from 2025 we will adopt a new principle: Money for Ton. ‘Under this approach, we will assign a monetary value to each ton of CO₂ emitted, based on our total footprint. The resulting budget is used to support high-impact climate initiatives, selected for their integrity, relevance to our investment domains, and potential for systemic change.’

CO2logic will continue to validate our calculations, but we will no longer pursue their carbon-neutral certification, as we now manage our own climate contribution budget.

Key actions for biodiversity

By signing the Biodiversity Pledge VP Capital has committed to five key actions:

Total portfolio biodiversity footprint

For our biodiversity footprint assessment, we partnered with PRé Sustainability to map our investments by geography, sector, and revenue. ‘By evaluating a wide range of inputs, outputs, and environmental pressures – based on statistical data – we identified whether our investments potentially contribute to biodiversity loss.’

We then considered financial data points, such as the size of our investment in each company. This allowed us to determine the relative significance of each hotspot contributing to potential biodiversity loss per organisation. Combining these data sets, we generated a list of key hotspots to address – which we then translated into tangible impacts on biodiversity.

The results of this assessment reveal that VP Capital has a potential biodiversity footprint of 26,470 PDF.ha.yr – roughly equivalent to 57% of the total land area of Andorra or 37,000 football pitches under the assumption that all biodiversity is lost within one year. The greatest impacts from our investment portfolio are related to land use (53%) and global warming (25%). These are largely due to the significant share of agricultural and forestry-linked organisations within the portfolio.

A closer look shows that the largest share of the biodiversity footprint stems from direct investments (34%) and investment funds (34%). This is to be expected, as these are also the most substantial investment categories.

The calculation of our biodiversity footprint has provided valuable insights into our key hotspots and areas of impact. Jobien Laurijssen: ‘Moving forward, we aim to monitor these hotspots within our investee companies to deepen our understanding and identify opportunities for improvement. Ultimately, our goal is to develop and implement policies that will reduce our contribution to biodiversity loss.’

The exercise was interesting, but we must be mindful when considering the results. ‘Biodiversity impact assessment remains an emerging field – particularly when applied at scale within financial institutions. Current methodologies offer an approximation of biodiversity impact, relying on estimated revenue data and average sector classifications. However, many of VP Capital’s innovative impact investments don’t fit neatly into these traditional sector categories, making accurate representation difficult.’

Furthermore, the model used for this assessment, Exiobase, is based on input-output data from 2011. While useful, it does not fully capture more recent developments or emerging sectors, including novel approaches within the bio-based and regenerative agriculture domains. For a more accurate and relevant analysis, it is recommended that more up-to-date databases be used as they become available.

As a result, it remains challenging to draw firm conclusions and actionable results from the data – especially regarding land use. For example, a reduction in land-use footprint may suggest an increased agricultural intensification, whereas many of VP Capital’s investments support regenerative models that prioritise land restoration and ecological health over maximising yield.

Biodiversity deepdives

In addition to the portfolio-wide calculation, we conducted two in-depth analyses of our direct participations: VP Landbouw and VP Textile. For both, we assessed biodiversity footprints using primary data and life cycle analysis.

For VP Textile, our workwear and protective wear company, we identified several key hotspots within its production process, including fibre production, fabric pre-processing, and product use. Jobien Laurijssen, Impact Manager at VP Capital: ‘Fibre production – particularly conventional cotton – has a high impact on biodiversity loss due to pesticide use and water extraction. To reduce this impact, we must keep focusing on increasing the share of responsibly sourced cotton in our supply chain, while also lowering the demand for primary raw materials by sourcing more recycled fibres.’

The same methodology was applied to VP Landbouw, our own agricultural company, where the main contributors to biodiversity loss were land occupation, methane emissions from enteric fermentation, emissions from manure management, and emissions from fertiliser application. These hotspots primarily affect biodiversity through land use and terrestrial global warming, with smaller contributions to terrestrial acidification and freshwater eutrophication.

In addition to identifying key impact areas, we also examined practices with a relatively low biodiversity impact, like the impact related to pesticide use. ‘This is due to VP Landbouw’s targeted approach, which relies on selective agents that only affect specific pest species. This helps preserve surrounding biodiversity and reduces the quantity of agrochemicals required. We will continue to improve our methods to further limit our impact on biodiversity loss.’

Based on these findings, we are now well-positioned to take concrete, strategic actions focused on our key hotspots to further reduce our biodiversity footprint.