Clayton, Dubilier & Rice – Youting Lee – 2025
Summary
During her fellowship with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), Youting developed a data-driven climate risk assessment framework to help the firm quantify, manage, and disclose physical climate risks in selected industrial and technology portfolio companies. By integrating geospatial analytics, financial modeling, and operational insights, she identified potential cost-saving and resilience opportunities, built AI-enabled compliance tools for upcoming regulation such as California SB 261, and embedded climate risk management into CD&R’s sustainability management and portfolio operations.
Goals
CD&R partnered with Environmental Defense Fund to evaluate and manage climate-related risks for its portfolio companies and establish a fund-wide strategy on climate risk managemnet. As new disclosure mandates like California Senate Bill 261 emerged, the firm aimed to move beyond narrative risk reporting toward a data-driven, operationally relevant framework. Youting was brought in to assess physical hazards’such as flood, wildfire, and extreme heat;quantify financial exposure, and design tools that would integrate climate resilience into CD&R’s investment and portfolio management processes.
Solutions
During her 12-week fellowship, Youting built a scalable climate risk assessment system to help CD&R quantify and mitigate physical climate hazards, leveraging climate solution partners. She consolidated asset-level and financial data from selected portfolio companies and applied climate analytics platforms to model exposure to floods, wildfires, extreme heat, and hurricanes. Using geospatial mapping and scenario analysis, Youting evaluated potential downtime, business continuity risks, and value-at-risk. She then developed six practical tools; ranging from compliance templates and assessment trackers to a custom AI-enabled reporting assistant, to standardize future risk analyses across the portfolio. Partnering with leaders in operations, risk, and external affairs, Youting also helped outline CD&R’s mid- to long-term climate risk strategy, facilitated vendor selection for data analytics partners, and identified potential cost-saving opportunities through resilience planning
Potential Impact
The work outlined climate risk management at CD&R from a compliance requirement into a strategic value lever. Her analysis produced quantified insights that portfolio companies can use to strengthen operational resilience, inform investment decisions, and align with investor expectations. The final deliverables, including the assessment framework, compliance toolkit, and implementation roadmap, enabled CD&R to institutionalize climate risk decision making across its deal cycle. This approach positioned the firm to support portfolio companies for the regulatory requirements under California SB 261 while enhancing portfolio performance and investor transparency. The project ultimately demonstrated how integrating climate analytics into operations can unlock financial value, reduce risk, and create enterprise value within portfolios.
