KGAL underlines ESG and refocuses on energy transition

Munich-based investment and asset manager KGAL Group is prioritising sustainability and as well as creating a new ESG officer role, is relaunching its infrastructure asset class as “sustainable infrastructure” and changing its emphasis to energy transition.

ESG expert and rating specialist Susanne Marttila will join the company in September having specialised in sustainable investments since 2007. She most worked most recently as regional head EMEA, ESG Ratings at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Marttila was previously head of the ESG corporate ratings team – extractives, energy and utilities at ISS and prior to that was an analyst at Oekom research. KGAL said that her focus on sustainable energy supply and climate change makes her “an ideal fit”.

Since 2003 KGAL, which as AUM of €11.2bn, has acquired 150 photovoltaic plants, wind farms and hydroelectric power plants on behalf of its clients, an investment of approximately €3.2 billion across ten European countries.

Investment in energy vectors an aid to decarbonisation

The firm has indicated that dubbing its infrastructure asset class “sustainable infrastructure” is more than just a name change, and said it will also now aid the decarbonisation process in industry, households and agriculture by investing in transformation of sustainably generated electricity into other energy vectors such as hydrogen, heat, and ammonia.  

“We want to set an example and continue to enhance our sustainability profile. Everyone should be able to see from the outset that our infrastructure fund offerings are 100% focused on sustainability,” said managing director Michael Ebner who is responsible for infrastructure assets.

“Sustainability is a key component of KGAL’s DNA,” said KGAL CEO Gert Waltenbauer, who added that the first KGAL fund for renewable energies was launched in 2003, environmental protection was made a strategic goal in 2010, the company signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2018 and it adopted a climate strategy in October 2020.