Ardian | Sustainability

Positive impact through responsible investment

We firmly believe that success in our industry involves more than just excellent financial returns. This is why we have been developing Ardian’s approach to responsible investment for more than 10 years. We are constantly experimenting and learning so that we can improve the way we measure ESG performance in our investments and set meaningful targets for improvement. We report in detail on these issues to our LPs and actively support industry initiatives to promote responsible investment.

“Ardian empowers individuals to collectively create sustainable value for all stakeholders” This is our company’s vision for sustainability, which draws together the essential elements of our approach – Ardian’s role as a catalyst for change; the importance of each individual’s actions and the power of collaboration; and the need to ensure the value we create together benefits all stakeholders.

Our Responsible Investment Policy

Sustainability Regulatory Information

our publications

156+

individualized roadmaps for portfolio companies since 2009 (direct funds)
80%

of the companies in our Buyout, Expansion and Infrastructure portfolios that are part of the Ardian Sustainability Program have put in place employee profit-sharing schemes during our ownership
290+

GPs reviewed since 2011 (Secondaries & Primaries)

Mastering change for lasting value

Ardian’s corporate video tells our story in our own words – how we embrace change, invest today to shape tomorrow, build to last, provide strength, share values and accelerate change for all our stakeholders.

Sustainability Program and main priorities

Our aim is to maximize Ardian’s positive contribution to society (people and planet) and ensure our company can grow sustainably by incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance considerations into our investment process and throughout our operations. Through our investments and corporate actions, we endeavour to address the four main priorities for Sustainability at Ardian: Climate Change, Diversity & Equal Opportunities, Profit Sharing and Governance & Ethics.

Climate Change

Ardian aims to take a leading role in addressing the global challenge of climate change. We actively support multiple industry-wide initiatives to address this threat and we are committed to helping our portfolio companies identify emissions and carbon trajectories, and develop effective operational plans to reduce their carbon emissions. At the corporate level, climate change is also a source of major concern and several employee-led initiatives are aimed at reducing Ardian’s carbon footprint throughout our offices and operations.

Diversity and Equal Opportunities

We believe that diverse and inclusive organizations are more creative, innovative and outperform their peers. Ardian is committed to developing and strengthening Inclusion and Diversity throughout our company; Ardian has several HR employees working on I&D who reporting to the Global Head of HR. We also monitor diversity indicators for our portfolio companies and our Secondaries & Primaries holdings. Ardian's centralized I&D initiatives vary across jurisdictions to comply with applicable local law.

Profit Sharing

Our approach to responsible investment is rooted in the idea of sharing, beginning with our decision in 2008 to share capital gains at exit with all employees of our portfolio companies whenever possible. Through our annual engagement program, we actively encourage all our portfolio companies to establish their own profit-sharing mechanism for employees.

Governance and Ethics

As Ardian’s size and impact continues to grow, so does our responsibility to set the best possible example for our wider community of stakeholders. To ensure this, Ardian favors the appointment of independent members to Management Boards and actively promotes the formalization of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability policies in all our portfolio companies. We also pay close attention to codes of ethics and conduct at both corporate and investment levels.

Collaborating for sustainable finance

Ardian is an active supporter of sustainability initiatives in the private investment markets and is a leading voice in its industry, calling for greater focus on sustainability issues.

Initiative Climat International

Ardian was a founding member of the Initiative Climat, formerly known as IC20, which commits signatories to measure and mitigate CO2 emissions of their portfolio companies

UN SDGs

We monitor the ESG performance of our investments closely and are extending this to measure their impacts on society using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

UN PRI

We are as strong supporter of the PRI and have achieved leading scores from this global organization for our sustainability performance

Collaboration to accelerate sustainable transformation

Ardian Circle, launched in 2021, is a community of executives and decision-makers from Ardian’s portfolio. It has been designed to facilitate interactions between peers, enabling networking, and fostering solutions on common ESG challenges. More than 100 companies from Ardian’s portfolio have benefited from these sessions. Examples of Ardian Circle topics include: Inclusion and Diversity, Carbon Footprint assessment, Water Management, ESG Communications, Value Sharing and CSR Regulations.

ESG Manager of the Year 2024

In October 2024, Ardian was awarded “IJ Global ESG Asset Manager of the Year,” at the IJ Global Awards 2024.

October 2024

2022 ESG Infrastructure Equity Investor - IJ Global

In October 2022; Ardian has been awarded “2022 ESG Infrastructure Equity Investor” at the IJGlobal ESG Awards.

October 2022

Sustainable Investor of the Year, Global - Infrastructure Investor

In March 2022, Ardian Infrastructure won the award of Sustainable Investor of the Year, Global, by Infrastructure Investor.

March 2022

Energy Investor of the Year, Europe - Infrastructure Investor

In March 2022, Ardian Infrastructure won the award of Energy Investor of the Year, Europe, by Infrastructure Investor.

March 2022

SWEN Capital Partners ESG Best Practice Honours 2019

Ardian received the award in the Multi-Strategy Investment Platform by SWEN Capital Partners at the ESG Best Practice Honours 2019.

June 2019

All News & Insights

Sustainability as a value creation driver: Ardian’s Co-Investment activity in action

At Ardian, we firmly believe that integrating Sustainability into our investment strategy is essential to creating long-term value, it’s a defining...

Sustainability, Co-Investment Responsible finance Inside Ardian

View of an airport concourse on the tarmac

Ardian Air Carbon, a technological platform to help airports lead the path to a net-zero aviation

Back in 2019, Ardian started developing Ardian Air Carbon, a pioneering solution to support airports in their sustainability strategy towards net-zero...

Infrastructure, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation Market watch Responsible finance

The “Augmented” airport can drive the decarbonization path to a net-zero

To meet the targets of the Paris Agreement and reduce the impact of climate change, airports have to evaluate their long-term resilience and innovate...

Infrastructure, Sustainability Market watch Responsible finance

'The Fight for a Net-Zero Aviation' - Ardian's take on aviation decarbonization

Infrastructure, Sustainability, Technology & Innovation Responsible finance

Header study the fight for a net-zero aviation

The Augmented Infrastructure Part III: The Fight for a Net-Zero Aviation

The aviation industry is an important contributor to both global and local economies and plays a key role in connecting territories. As the urgency...

Infrastructure, Sustainability Market watch Responsible finance

The Fight for a Net-Zero Aviation conference

REPLAY | The Fight for a Net-Zero Aviation, The Augmented Infrastructure Part III - November 9, 2022

Infrastructure, Sustainability Market watch Responsible finance

The Fight for a Net-Zero Aviation - The Augmented Infrastructure Part III

To meet Paris agreement targets and contain the effects of climate change, the air transport industry is rethinking its ecosystem model and developing...

Infrastructure, Sustainability Market watch

Ardian Infrastructure - The case for hydrogen - Virtual Summit - June 2021

Investing In Climate Action: The Case For Hydrogen

Investing In Climate Action: The Case For Hydrogen is a collaborative effort between Ardian and business leaders in the infrastructure industry.

Infrastructure, Sustainability Market watch

Two transport workers on a construction site with helmet and safety jacket

Why Health and Safety is a question of culture

Rigorous management and measurement systems for workplace Health and Safety are important but will not ensure improvements on their own. To achieve...

Infrastructure, Sustainability Responsible finance

Ardian launches 2021 Activity and Sustainability Reports

Ardian has published its Activity and Sustainability Reports for 2021, outlining key developments during the year and initiatives under way to prepare...