Podcast
The New Private Markets Podcast
Hosted by PEI Group · EN
The New Private Markets Podcast focuses exclusively on sustainability issues in private equity, venture capital, private debt, real estate and infrastructure. Join the editorial team behind New Private Markets as they pick through the sustainability trends shaping these asset classes, from ESG to impact and beyond, with help from industry insiders. Visit newprivatemarkets.com for more.
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'All of the above' is the enemy of success, says Stan Miranda
3d ago00:13:11Tap to summarizeWhen it comes to decarbonisation, investors have been spreading their capital too thinly across companies and technologies, says Stan Miranda, founder of the True North Institute and co-founder of All Aboard. "We will not make the right investments if we don't face the reality of what's happening at the atmospheric level," says Miranda, "And for some reason or other investors in this space tend to back hope more than reality; and, as many people have said, hope is not a strategy here." Miranda was among the speakers at the Impact Investor Global Summit in May this year in London, where this episode was recorded. Miranda explains the rationale behind the All Aboard coalition, a group of climate tech investors working collaboratively in a bid to find and back the "winners" among climate tech companies. "There's a philosophy in the climate investment world called 'all of the above', and the rationale behind it is that we don't know which technology is going to work, whether it's nuclear fusion or geothermal or clean hydrogen or various versions of carbon capture, so we need to invest in all of them. And that's the enemy of success here," says Miranda. "We really need to talk to each other about what is really working commercially, what is not dependent upon policy support, and concentrate capital in those technologies. It won't be all of them, so it should be very focused and very collaborative, not 'all of the above'."
Transcribe →What the European Investment Fund wants from climate GPs
1w ago00:13:11Tap to summarizeThe European Investment Fund is one of the most important allocators to the continent's climate funds. More than half of the €6.3 billion it invested in sustainability and green transformation last year was deployed into private markets, according to its 2025 annual report. It was the second-most frequent allocator to impact funds in 2025 and Q1 2026, New Private Markets analysis shows. In this episode, Matteo Squilloni, head of climate transition equity investments at EIF, discusses: How the number of climate-related proposals EIF received fell in 2025, and what this says about the state of the market; How EIF is balancing its private equity climate portfolio between re-ups and new managers; How banking on certain narratives and policy support over industrial fundamentals has driven the clearest failures in EIF's climate portfolio; Why AI-driven demand for energy and water is a genuine investment opportunity. Squilloni was a recent speaker at the Impact Investor Global Summit in London, where he participated in a discussion on the global outlook for climate investing. Find more information on next year's event here.
Transcribe →Inside OTPP's revised climate strategy with Anna Murray
Apr 1400:19:27Tap to summarizeIn February, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a Canadian pension plan with C$270 billion ($197 billion; €167 billion) in assets, unveiled a revised climate strategy, with new targets and new ways to measure progress. In this episode, Anna Murray, senior managing director and global head of sustainable investing, takes us behind the changes, explaining why the pension has moved away from emissions intensity as a primary way of measuring climate progress and how the new strategy shifts towards "real world impact". "While the direction of travel is clear for the energy transition, it's not necessarily linear, so it's going to move all over the place depending on what geographies we're in, depending on what sectors we're talking about," says Murray. "So the idea [is that the new climate strategy] takes into account this nuance, while understanding that the direction of travel is clear." Murray, who was listed among our sustainable private markets influencers in 2024, also gives her views on the evolution of sustainability within the context of institutional investment: "It is reasonable to see retrenchment from heavy-handed virtue signalling, and it is in fact quite inspiring and exciting that we are now in era of pragmatism and getting to work."
Transcribe →Why APG is 'clamping down' on ESG data, while ramping up impact
Mar 2300:24:13Tap to summarizeAPG Asset Management is one of the world's most influential investors in private markets, and a leader in the integration of sustainability and impact into its investment approach. It manages around €590 billion on behalf of Dutch public pension funds and has an ambitious €30 billion target for impact investments. In this discussion with Patrick Kanters, APG's chief investment officer, private markets, we dig into a number of topics, including: How APG is reassessing its exposure to emerging markets; How its impact allocation requires it to rethink the risk curve, and what that means for its underwriting process; Why APG is trying to "clamp down" on the amount of ESG information it is asking for from its partners; How geopolitcal friction and a more deglobalised world is shaping its approach to private markets investment, and investment in defence. APG was among the winners of the New Private Markets Global Awards this year. It was named as Limited Partner of the Year (Impact) after making significant headway during 2025 in advancing its impact investment programme and contributing to the wider market. Note: APG Asset Management will be among the many allocators at New Private Markets' upcoming Impact Investor Global Summit on 19-20 May in London.
Transcribe →BCI: Why ESG is 'one of the last frontiers' in value creation
Mar 1600:29:10Tap to summarizeFor years, ESG was viewed more as an exercise in disclosure than a means to value creation. But sustainability is increasingly going beyond ticking boxes. It is becoming an increasingly important method for unlocking value in private equity portfolios. Ahead of the Responsible Investment Forum: New York on 18-19 March, The New Private Markets Podcast discussed sustainability and value creation in private markets, among other topics, with Evan Greenfield, head of ESG for private equity at Canadian pension plan British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). With $25 billion in its private equity portfolio, BCI allocates around half to fund managers and devotes the other half to direct investments, giving it a well-rounded perspective on how the market is evolving. Greenfield has heard the conversations about ESG change significantly over the years, and says that increasingly these days, investors see ESG as a tool to boost EBITDA growth, improve margins and ultimately increase exit valuations. "Sustainability is one of the last frontiers of value creation in a private equity landscape," Greenfield says. From re-examining the role of ESG to proving its impact in dollars and cents, this episode explores how sustainability is becoming an advantage for private equity investors.
Transcribe →What's it like raising climate capital today?
Mar 900:25:37Tap to summarizeImpact investing reached an inflection point in 2025 as uncertainty gripped private markets, abetted by political turbulence, fundraising difficulties and liquidity constraints. But such uncertainty may have been necessary for impact fund managers to focus on a sharper articulation of market fundamentals, according to Rekha Unnithan, global head of private equity impact investing at Nuveen, the asset management subsidiary of retirement services firm TIAA. An appropriate response, Unnithan argues, is not retreat, but nuance. For climate-focused investors wary of shifting policies in Washington, DC, the emphasis is on backing profitable companies that do not depend on government subsidies. For sceptics, however, it's simple economics – companies that reduce costs, improve climate resilience and deliver real value, regardless of ideology. While 2025 left behind a number of challenges for the impact investing market, there appear to be signs that things may improve in 2026 with transition activity picking up and capital seemingly starting to flow again. But which themes will characterise the market in 2026? In this episode, Unnithan sits down with host Michael Bowen to discuss where the sustainable investing market may go from here.
Transcribe →How LPs should manage a private markets impact programme amid slower DPI
Mar 200:17:40Tap to summarizeHow does a distribution drought affect LPs and how should they react? In this episode, we speak to Tom Mitchell, partner in the foundation and endowments practice and head of sustainable and impact solutions at Cambridge Associates. Cambridge Associates has been advising institutions on their investments since 1973. Mitchell has been with the firm since 2007 and helped launch its sustainable and impact investing platform. This conversation was recorded at PEI Group's flagship private equity meeting, NEXUS, which took place in Orlando in late February. Mitchell was among the speaker lineup for NEXUS's New Private Markets Investor Forum, and in this conversation, he describes the LP experience amid a period of slow distributions and fast-moving news. He also describes where LPs with an impact mindset are focusing their energy and capital in 2026. Note: NEXUS will return in 2027 and is heading to Scottsdale, Arizona!
Transcribe →How auto-loans and farm credit can be regenerative
Dec 1500:15:48Tap to summarizeRegenerative economic models create value and expand markets, rather than undermine them, says Kat Taylor. Taylor is an investor and philanthropist, and alongside her husband Tom Steyer founded TomKat Foundation. She is also the co-founder of the Beneficial State Bank and co-founder of the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation. Taylor was also one of the speakers at the New Private Markets Investor Summit in New York in November. That's where we recorded this episode of the podcast in which Taylor describes how innovative business models in everything from autoloans to farm credit can, in her words, "make a buck a better way" and show that markets can be recalibrated to be part of a regenenerative, rather than extractive, economy.
Transcribe →How the sustainability-linked loan market is evolving
Dec 900:21:31Tap to summarizeHaving shot to prominence in the early part of this decade, have sustainability-linked loans (or SLLs) become an enduring part of the private credit landscape? Or have they quietly gone out of fashion? In this special edition of the podcast, co-hosted with PEI Group affiliate publication Private Debt Investor, we seek to chart the rise of sustainability-linked loans and assess how they are being used today. To recap: these loans feature a margin ratchet whereby the borrower’s performance against certain sustainability targets can result in a lower interest rate in the case of outperformance, or an increase in the case of underperformance. To help us assess the situation, we enlisted Nishan Srinivasan, head of origination and partner at Ambienta Credit. Since its inception in 2007, Ambienta has invested in companies operating in the realms of environmental and resource efficiency. Srinivasan spent 22 years at Credit Suisse, latterly as global co-head of leverage finance origination. He joined Ambienta in 2023 to help launch its credit platform. In the early days of SLLs it was not uncommon to see ratchets of 5 basis points relating to sustainability goals that were easily achievable, says Srinivasan. “Typically this was, dare I say, window dressing,” he said. “Quite de minimis in the context of the cost of the loan”. Fast forward to today and the targets are more ambitious, the discounts more meaningful – as much as 40bps – and there is more frequently a margin uplift in the event of failure.
Transcribe →Optimism abounds among US sustainable investors
Nov 700:12:59Tap to summarizeTwo major talking points at this year's New Private Markets Investor Summit: North America were the transformative force of AI and the pressing need for liquidity in private markets portfolios. While neither of these topics are unique to impact or sustainable investing, they are of paramount importance and dominated discussions on stage and off. In this episode, Jennifer Kenning, founder and CEO of Align Impact who served as expert chair for day one of the event, joins New Private Markets' Toby Mitchenall and Michael Bowen for a 10-minute wrap-up of the event. Optimism, a common trait of sustainable investors, abounds. "In the political environment we are in today, and how much the space has shifted in the last 12 months, there is a misnomer out there at the moment that it is all negative," says Kenning, who goes on to delve into reasons why, particularly in the areas of liquidity and AI, there is much to be optimistic about.
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