Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Materiality Assessment for Venture Capital

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Identifying material issues for Emerging Technologies (AI/ML, Blockchain/Crypto, Web3/AR/VR, Synthetic Biology, etc.) that are not yet fully captured by existing sustainability accounting standards
• Expanding the number of industries that are mapped to each company to account for Technology-enabled Solutions and Platform companies potentially serving many industries (and/or the mass public) as customers
• Building timelines to identify when specific ESG issues will likely become material as companies scale and gain influence and impact in a market

Mitigation Strategies

• Developed a nine-part framework for ESG due diligence for ventures
• Provides high-level questions that cover all industries. Materiality assessments can deepen this analysis by identifying which issues due diligence teams should explore in more depth based on known risks and impacts in an industry.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: SASB

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• ESG in dual-use technology venture capital
• Ethical nuances of defense applications
• Impact frameworks for dual-use investments
• Responsible use of technology
• Trusted capital sources

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Low ESG maturity in dual-use VC firms
• Conflicting LP exclusion policies on defense technologies
• Lack of suitable ESG standards for dual-use technologies
• Inadequate impact frameworks for measuring social good in defense
• Concerns about responsible technology use and safeguarding mechanisms
• Difficulty identifying and managing LPs with funding from non-trusted sources

Mitigation Strategies

• Increased awareness and capacity for ESG among VCs
• Shifting LP sentiment towards defense investments post-Ukraine war
• Development of proprietary ESG due diligence tools by some VCs
• Calls for standardized language in exclusion policies
• Need for clearer risk categorization scales and impact frameworks
• Improved communication of safeguarding policies by defense customers
• Guidance on identifying and managing adversarial capital

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), ISO Standards, SASB Standards, Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• SDG 9
• SDG 16

Investments in dual-use technologies can contribute to industrial innovation (SDG 9) and peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16).