ESG Due Diligence & Investor Readiness
ESG due diligence for funds and lenders deploying capital. Investor readiness for project developers raising it. One team that has sat on both sides of the table.
In project finance and private equity, ESG due diligence is built into how capital allocation decisions are made. Solenne Solutions prepares developers for that scrutiny and helps investors run it. We have been through due diligence from the company side, building the data rooms and writing the investor narratives, so we know which issues investors test hardest and where the answers are usually found.
Across the investment cycle
ESG due diligence is one moment in a longer cycle. What an investor needs from ESG changes at each step — and so does what we deliver.
Fund foundations
Translate your non-technical risk appetite into ESG policies, KPIs and screening criteria that LPs recognise.
Screening & due diligence
Pre-investment screening, red-flag review, management presentations and data-room review against your mandate.
Investment decision
ESG conditions precedent, term-sheet provisions, ESAP and a first-100-days action plan for the IC paper.
Hold & value creation
Board observer or ESG adviser on a fractional retainer, portfolio deep dives, incident investigation, LP reporting and horizon scanning.
Exit
Vendor ESG due diligence and a buyer-ready ESG story that supports valuation and broadens the buyer universe.
Investor Readiness for project developers
The ESG presentation that gets a project funded tells investors you understand the risks they care about, have a credible plan to manage them, and have identified opportunities that strengthen the investment case. We make sure the ESG file, the data room and the management presentation say the same thing, in the language your target investors use.
Due diligence preparation
- ESG risk and opportunity identification and materiality assessment tailored to the investor audience
- Gap analysis against the standards your lenders apply (IFC PS, EBRD PRs, Equator Principles, private equity expectations), before they apply them
- Data-room review, technical Q&A support and data quality assessment
- Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) preparation and close-out support
- KPI design and ESG data architecture for investor reporting
- Vendor ESG due diligence and a buyer-ready ESG narrative at exit
Narrative & positioning
- Investor presentation narrative, structure and design direction
- Messaging strategy by investor type (DFI, private equity, corporate, sovereign wealth), aligned with investor mandates
- ESG risk-mitigation narrative that builds confidence and highlights opportunities
- Spokesperson preparation and pitch coaching
- Pre-meeting packages: deck, talking points, anticipated questions, follow-up strategy
Outcomes
- ESG credentials that withstand investor due diligence scrutiny
- A wider pool of viable investor categories for your project
- Investor presentations that are both technically defensible and persuasive in the boardroom
- Messaging calibrated to the risk language your target investors use
- A short, achievable ESAP rather than one imposed at close
ESG Due Diligence for funds & lenders
You know your mandate. We run the ESG screen and the due diligence, or manage it on your behalf, and stay in the room through ownership and exit. Having built data rooms and investor narratives from the company side, we know what makes the headlines, what does not, and where to look for answers — and we complement your existing E&S advisers rather than replace them.
Screening & pre-investment due diligence
- ESG screening against your fund’s criteria and red-flag identification
- Enhanced due diligence on non-technical risks, managed on your behalf
- Lines of enquiry for management presentations and data-room requests
- Early warning signs on organisational capacity and culture
- Findings ready for the Investment Committee paper, with fewer information gaps
- ESG conditions precedent, term-sheet provisions and a first-100-days action plan
Stewardship & exit
- Board observer or ESG adviser to portfolio companies on a fractional retainer
- Investigation of material non-compliances, incident response and escalation
- Periodic deep dives on a single entity or the whole portfolio
- Portfolio-level ESG frameworks, adaptation for non-standard portfolio types, and ESG reporting to LPs
- Horizon scanning for emerging trends and policy or framework changes
- Vendor ESG due diligence and a buyer-ready ESG story at exit
Outcomes
- A clear, evidenced screening decision
- Company strategies and capacity stress-tested before capital is committed
- Material ESG issues negotiated into investment agreements, where they are easier to enforce
- Expert ESG insight in the boardroom without appointing another director
- Evidenced ESG value creation that supports exit valuation and broadens the buyer universe
Risk Assessment & Crisis Preparedness
For developers and investors alike, project pitfalls usually fall into three categories: economic, technical or community opposition. The third is the one most often deferred, and the one with the most expensive consequences. Targeting material ESG risks from the earliest possible stage builds resilience that strengthens prospects from both a financial and a community-support perspective. It also surfaces opportunities that only become visible through structured risk and stakeholder analysis.
Risk & opportunity identification
- Strategic ESG risk frameworks, workshops, scenario planning and risk register design
- Pre-investment ESG due diligence managed on your behalf
- ESG due diligence for acquisitions and investments
- Assurance programme design and audit support
- Targeted environmental and social risk and opportunity identification along the project development timeline
- Stage-appropriate contingency planning calibrated to actual project risks
Crisis strategy & communications
- Reputation risk assessment: potential risks explained in concrete commercial terms
- Emergency management strategy development
- Crisis messaging for C-suite and media
- Stakeholder perception monitoring and early warning systems
- Risk narratives that boards and C-suite can understand and operationalise
- Stage-appropriate emergency scenario simulations
Outcomes
- Material ESG risks identified and managed before they become costly or public
- Contingency plans in place before they are needed
- Risks communicated to boards and investors in commercial terms, not technical jargon
- Crisis protocols ready to deploy, with spokespersons prepared
- Opportunities identified through structured risk analysis that strengthen the project concept and investor case
Common questions about ESG due diligence and investor readiness
What is ESG due diligence?
ESG due diligence is the review investors and lenders carry out before committing capital to check how a project or company identifies and manages environmental, social and governance risk. In project finance it is run against the IFC Performance Standards, EBRD Performance Requirements or the Equator Principles and covers policies, management systems, ESIA findings, stakeholder engagement records, labour and supply-chain practices and reporting. Its output is usually a set of conditions and an action plan attached to the financing.
What does ESG due diligence examine before financial close?
Typically: the environmental and social impact assessment and its permits; land acquisition and resettlement; community engagement and grievance records; labour, health and safety and security arrangements; biodiversity and climate risk; governance, anti-corruption and the capacity of the management team; and how the project will monitor and report all of this once operating. Gaps become conditions precedent or ESAP items rather than deal-breakers, provided they are known early.
What are the Equator Principles?
The Equator Principles are a risk-management framework adopted by more than 130 financial institutions for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in project finance. They are based on the IFC Performance Standards and the World Bank Group EHS Guidelines, and they require projects above certain thresholds to be categorised, assessed, consulted on and monitored, with an action plan and independent review where risks are significant.
What is an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP)?
An ESAP is the time-bound list of actions a project must complete to close the gaps between its current ESG performance and the lender’s standards. It is agreed during due diligence, attached to the financing agreement and monitored through the life of the loan. A well-prepared developer arrives at due diligence with its own gap analysis, so the ESAP is short and achievable rather than imposed.
What is ESG investor readiness?
Investor readiness, in ESG terms, means a project can demonstrate to a prospective financier that its material environmental, social and governance risks are identified, managed and documented to the standard that financier applies, and can explain that credibly in a data room, a management presentation and an investment committee paper. It is what turns ESG from a condition to be negotiated into part of the investment case.
What is a materiality assessment?
A materiality assessment identifies which environmental, social and governance issues matter most for a particular project or portfolio — because of their potential impact on the business, on people and the environment, or both — so that effort and reporting focus on the issues investors and regulators will actually test. It is the starting point for an ESG strategy and for preparing a due diligence file.
Get in Touch
Whether you're planning a project and want to get the ESG and communications foundations right from the start, or you’re trying to craft a board presentation with all the right data and messages, we'd love to hear from you.