Novo Holdings publishes its Responsible Investment Report 2023

Novo Holdings has launched its Responsible Investment Report 2023, which provides a comprehensive review of Novo Holdings’ activities, outlining how it strives to create long-term economic value while contributing positively to human health and the health of the planet.

The report highlights the progress Novo Holdings has made against the commitments that it has set to accelerate the green transition as part of its Strategy 2030. Further, the report outlines the Novo Holdings investment strategy, approach to responsible investment, and how ESG is integrated into the investment process, while analysing progress across Novo Holdings’ three key focus areas of Health, Planet and People.

Kasim Kutay, CEO, Novo Holdings, said: “At Novo Holdings, we aspire to be a leading responsible investor, recognised for delivering strong financial returns and positive societal impact. I am, therefore, pleased to share the Responsible Investment Report 2023, offering our stakeholders the opportunity to explore our approach. This remains a topic of great importance to Novo Holdings, and we are continuously working to improve our efforts, both in our internal operations as an investment firm and in how we engage with our portfolio companies.”

Novo Holdings' approach to responsible investment is built upon three core pillars: Health, Planet, and People. These pillars form the essential foundation of the Novo holdings commitment to responsible investing.

Health – to provide more people with better treatments to improve health in society

Novo Holdings’ sustainability efforts are intertwined with a commitment to improving global health outcomes and addressing unmet medical needs. By year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had invested DKK 81bn (EUR 11bn) in healthcare across 121 portfolio companies – 22 of which were new investments during the year. During 2023, 253 patents were granted to its portfolio companies reflecting their continual drive for innovation.

Planet – to contribute to the green transition

As part of the recently launched Strategy 2030, Novo Holdings has committed to contributing to the acceleration of the green transition, and it therefore aims to allocate 10% of total investment funds to technologies and infrastructure supporting this. In addition, Novo Holdings is in the process of setting 2030 emission reduction targets that are aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

By the end of 2023, Novo Holdings had made investment commitments of DKK 1.8bn (EUR 241m) in renewable energy infrastructure and invested DKK 4bn (EUR 536m) in bioindustrial companies providing innovative solutions to improve planetary health.

People – to create responsible and diverse workplaces

Working closely with the boards and leaders of its portfolio companies, Novo Holdings aims to instil and communicate the value of diversity, equity and inclusion. As part of this, Novo Holdings has introduced diversity targets requiring that by 2027 the boards of all portfolio companies in the EU, UK and Asia should have at least 40% of members from the underrepresented gender, while US boards need to have at least 40% representation from diverse backgrounds.

Maja Pedersen, Head of Sustainability & Impact, Novo Holdings, said: “Responsibility is core to our heritage. We integrate ESG throughout the investment process, from investment strategy through pre-investment and ownership. The process is specifically tailored to each stage along the investment continuum, and we work actively with portfolio companies in a data-led approach to drive progress and target areas that deserve higher priority in the future.”

Learn more in the Novo Holdings Responsible Investment Report 2023.