Beyond Compliance: How Private Markets Are Embedding Sustainability Into Returns

The sustainability conversation in private markets has shifted. The external pressure that once defined the agenda has given way to something more fundamental: integrating ESG directly into how capital is deployed and how portfolio companies are built. Elsa Palanza, Global Head of Sustainability at ICG, makes the case that the most effective sustainability teams are not running parallel processes. They are embedded alongside deal teams from the start.In conversation with Matt Feehily of Simpson Thacher, the discussion covers the multidisciplinary skill sets sustainability leadership now demands, the governance and environmental challenges posed by AI at scale, and why the defense sector is emerging as one of the more complex sustainability questions in the European context.