In 2023, Mubadala internally launched our updated Sustainable Returns Model. Based on industry best practice frameworks including the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Risk Categorization, our model helps us assess the materiality, and maturity of a company in relation to 19 ESG factors. As part of our Stewardship efforts, Mubadala showcased our model to our sovereign wealth fund peers during the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) annual meeting, and at COP28.

We are rolling out the Sustainable Returns Model across our investment lifecycle, from assessing new deals, through to continued engagement and asset management with our portfolio companies. The goal of our model is to identify opportunities to enhance the ESG performance of our portfolio companies, with a guiding focus on value creation and preservation.

Across 2023 Mubadala conducted deep engagement exercises to identify ESG value creation opportunities with more than 50 of our most material portfolio companies. This ESG engagement process is collaborative between the Responsible Investing team, Mubadala’s asset managers, and the portfolio companies to ensure full alignment and integration of the ESG process.

Alongside this process, in 2023 Mubadala partnered with Solutions+, a leading provider of shared services, to launch Project Decarb. This project involves us working closely with 16 of our UAE-based portfolio companies to help them develop and progress their decarbonization strategies.