KKR – Sohara Mehroze – 2023

Goals

Nature-related issues can be financially material to companies across a wide range of industries. Moreover, the emergence of biodiversity frameworks, such as the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), has increased scrutiny of how investors integrate biodiversity considerations into the investment process.

The goal of Sohara’s project was to help KKR better understand these trends and stakeholder expectations related to biodiversity and to develop practical recommendations for integrating biodiversity considerations into the investment process. 

Solutions

Sohara analyzed the global regulatory landscape, existing industry practices, and emerging market expectations to assess the implications of nature-related impacts and dependencies in the context of KKR’s investment lifecycle and portfolio. Leveraging this understanding, she assessed possible nature-related financial risks and opportunities faced by companies in KKR’s portfolio through the proposed TNFD LEAP framework.

She also proposed an industry screening method to prioritize certain industries for biodiversity–focused due diligence using third-party tools, such as the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter tool. 

Potential Impact

Sohara’s work helped identify opportunities for further engagement and potential actions to address biodiversity within KKR’s portfolio. This included opportunities to enhance pre-investment diligence processes and ongoing reporting and monitoring of the portfolio. Her work also identified tools that can help KKR portfolio companies better align with the TNFD framework and assess biodiversity-related risks and opportunities.