Interview, Fireside Chat
David Blood, Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Generation Investment Management
- Generation Investment Management maintains a long-term investment lens while viewing the transition to net zero carbon emissions as the most significant investment opportunity of current lifetimes, requiring fundamental transformation across energy, mobility, food, agriculture, forestry, built environments, chemicals, heavy manufacturing, technology, healthcare, finance, and investment management sectors.
- The period spanning the next five to 10 years is identified as critical for addressing the net zero transition, challenges of a just transition, and human health, with the post-pandemic economic reflation potentially offering a once-in-a-century opportunity to redefine interactions between business, capital, civil society, and consumers.
- During this five-to-10-year window, businesses are expected to "build back better" while policy decisions and capital allocation strategies at the government level translate directly into business operations, necessitating that the firm evaluate investment targets based on their specific activities and impacts on the transition.
- Client demand for measuring and reporting impact is increasing, prompting the firm to prioritize these metrics alongside its dual mission to generate returns and promote sustainability.
- The firm anticipates that its culture of mission and impact will continue to reinforce itself by attracting and retaining talent, enhancing founder enthusiasm, and expanding the investment opportunity set, with recent private equity growth driven by entrepreneur attraction to this messaging.
- While the firm does not explicitly outline specific quantitative targets, it asserts that marrying professional objectives with a believed-in culture will likely enhance individual ability to deliver on responsibilities, noting that the full scope of possibilities associated with mission and impact was not fully appreciated when the firm was founded 17 years ago.