News in the spotlight: Societe Generale commits EUR 100mn to Ardian’s nature-based solutions fund
Ardian and Société Générale have launched a nature-based solutions equity partnership to scale investments in ecosystem preservation and restoration projects.
Products and Services
Novara takes over sustainability software provider Ensogo
Novara has acquired Ensogo, an environment and sustainability start-up, to expand its AI capabilities, sustainability offerings, and international footprint. The deal combines Novara’s safety and risk management software with Ensogo’s technology, creating an integrated platform for AI-powered operational risk management and sustainability strategy. Novara’s existing platform helps organizations manage health, safety and environmental risks through data collection, analytics and reporting capabilities. Ensogo brings specialized sustainability management technology that tracks environmental performance, manages ESG data and supports sustainability reporting. The merged platform will enable companies to connect operational risk data with sustainability metrics, providing a unified view of how environmental performance and risk management interact. The acquisition positions Novara to compete more effectively in the growing market for integrated risk and sustainability management software.
Northern Trust adds climate-focused UCITS equity funds
Northern Trust Asset Management has launched two actively managed UCITS sustainable multifactor funds designed to pursue outperformance while managing climate transition risks and opportunities. The NT World Multifactor Focus Select Fund seeks excess returns over a full market cycle, while the NT World Multifactor Select Fund aims to deliver long-term capital growth. Both funds use Northern Trust’s proprietary value, quality, momentum and low volatility signals, combining financial, alternative and sustainable datasets to generate returns in a risk-efficient manner. The strategies integrate sustainable considerations including targeted carbon footprint reductions and assessment of industry-specific climate risks while preserving factor content. The approach targets meaningful carbon emission reductions relative to benchmarks while improving overall carbon risk ratings, building on the firm’s existing sustainable global real estate and emerging markets capabilities.
Societe Generale commits EUR 100mn to Ardian’s nature-based solutions fund
Ardian and Société Générale have launched a nature-based solutions equity partnership to scale investments in ecosystem preservation and restoration projects. As part of the deal, Société Générale will invest EUR 100 million as an anchor investor in Ardian’s Averrhoa NBS fund and act as financial advisor to support the fund’s structuring and deployment through its affiliate Société Générale Investment Solutions. Averrhoa NBS is an SFDR Article 9 impact fund managed by Ardian’s Infrastructure team alongside aDryada Advisory, a specialist developer of large-scale ecosystem restoration. The strategy invests in reforestation, wetland and mangrove restoration projects that protect biodiversity while enabling carbon sequestration through natural sinks, targeting 85 million tons of carbon over 40 years. The fund plans to develop around 15 large natural carbon sinks in tropical and temperate regions, covering 10,000 to 50,000 hectares each. Approximately 75% of investments will be in non-OECD countries, with the fund targeting EUR 1.5 billion in quality sequestration projects, particularly in emerging markets.
NEST commits GBP 200mn with IFM to back climate solutions
Nest, the UK’s largest workplace pension scheme by membership, has committed GBP 200 million to support next-generation climate solutions through a partnership with IFM Investors. The investment targets growth-stage companies with proven technologies and demonstrated commercial demand that have moved beyond early-stage risk but remain underserved by traditional infrastructure debt markets. IFM’s next-generation infrastructure credit strategy focuses on international lending opportunities across developed markets, with a pipeline in the UK. The mandate backs companies and asset-backed debt across power and energy, sustainable transportation, digital circular economy, and industrial innovation sectors, delivering measurable low-carbon outcomes across the real economy. The commitment follows Nest’s acquisition of a 10% stake in IFM last year, making it the first non-Australian owner of the pension fund-owned asset manager. Nest intends to invest GBP 5 billion through IFM by 2030, supporting its ambition to increase private markets allocation from 17% to 30% of assets under management by that date.
Regulations, Law and Frameworks
SBTi finalizes Net Zero Standards
The Science Based Targets initiative has released Version 2.0 of its Corporate Net-Zero Standard, updating the framework companies use to set and validate science-based climate targets. The revision is meant to make corporate net-zero action more practical while keeping the standard aligned with 1.5C pathways and scientific rigor. The new version gives companies more flexibility in how they plan and sequence emissions cuts, but it keeps the core requirement that real decarbonization must happen in the value chain first. Scope 1, 2 and, where material, Scope 3 emissions remain central, and companies still need both short- and long-term targets. The standard also strengthens expectations around implementation, progress tracking and transition planning, so companies can show not just ambition but delivery. A notable shift is how the standard treats responsibility for residual emissions. The updated framework introduces a structured role for carbon credits and other mitigation actions outside the value chain, but only as a complement to direct emissions cuts, not a substitute.