The fund has also announced its first investment into Bioline AgroSciences, which designs, produces and supplies microbials to replace pesticides in agricultural crops.
Private markets asset manager Eurazeo has launched the Eurazeo Planetary Boundaries Fund, which has reached a first close of €300m with commitments from a range of investors, including European financial institutions, insurance companies, asset managers and family offices. The company was unable to disclose any names.
The fund, which has a total fundraising target of €750m by September 2026, will use the planetary boundaries framework developed by renowned Swedish scientist Johan Rockström, to guide its investment strategy.
It will do this by buying out or taking majority stakes in 10 to 12 profitable small to medium-sized companies with the view to significantly scale the environmental solutions they offer to reverse or adapt to the overstepping of the Earth’s planetary boundaries.
Speaking to Impact Investor about the interest from investors to date, Sophie Flak, executive board member and managing partner for sustainability and impact at Eurazeo, highlighted the growing concern around the insurability of assets due to accelerating environmental degradation and climate change. She said that, as a result, investors such as insurance companies saw the benefits of investing into funds that supported solutions to these issues.
“We have some prominent European investors. Among them are insurance companies who see this fund as an opportunity to finance the solutions they need to allow the world to remain insurable. We are also in advanced discussions with investors in North America, China and Singapore,” she said.
The fund has already made its first investment, taking a majority stake in Bioline AgroSciences, which produces and markets macrobials, a range of microorganisms used in the control of insect pests in a variety of crops. The investment was made alongside family-owned impact investment fund Aurae as minority shareholder, with a focus on accelerating the company’s growth.
Eurazeo said the fund’s launch opens innovative perspectives for integrating science into finance to address environmental challenges beyond climate change.
Planetary boundaries
The framework of nine planetary boundaries were developed in 2009 by a group of Earth system and environmental scientists led by Rockström at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Will Steffen from the Australian National University. They describe key Earth system processes and set safe limits within which humanity can thrive.
These include climate change, the introduction of novel/synthetic entities into the environment, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, modification of biogeochemical flows crucial for supporting life and maintaining ecosystems, freshwater change, land system change and biosphere integrity. To date six of the nine planetary boundaries have been crossed.
Flak said Eurazeo chose this framework for the fund because of its holistic approach to tackling environmental degradation.
“With the exception of climate focused funds, you need to take a broad approach to environmental impact if you want to deliver a robust investment product. Climate has an impact on water, water has an impact on biodiversity, biodiversity has an impact on climate. These issues are all intertwined.”
Flak explained that Eurazeo’s impact funds rely heavily on science.
“Science is important because we need to be precise. Without it you risk taking very poor decisions,” she said, adding that, in her view, the planetary boundaries are the best scientific framework there is for comprehensively assessing the impacts of human activity on the Earth’s systems.
Team
Flak said that Eurazeo had approached both Rockström and sustainability expert Laurent Gilbert to advise them on the fund. She explained the latter was the first person to integrate the planetary boundaries framework into a company’s strategy, which he did as the former sustainable innovation director at L’Oréal.
“Johan Rockström was very keen to see the missing link established between science and the economy, and this missing link are the investors. He has endorsed the fund but the practical day-to-day work of our advisory board to develop and grow the fund is being led by Laurent with our impact team,” explained Flak.
Co-leading the fund are Erwann Le Ligné and Wilfried Piskula supported by an impact team, which includes two recently appointed agronomic engineers who bring their knowledge of Earth systems to the fund.
Macrobials
Bioline AgroSciences, which is a global firm with origins in Colchester, England, designs, produces and markets a wide range of invertebrate biological control organisms to replace or reduce the use of pesticides in what Eurozeo described as targeted and effective pest control in agriculture.
“Our food production is becoming increasingly sensitive to climate change, including the growing number of invasive species that are becoming increasingly resistant to pesticides. Biocontrol provides a solution to address these issues and the need for these solutions is only going to increase,” said Flak.
The company operates six bio factories across the USA, UK, France, Spain and Kenya and primarily targets high-value crops such as berries, flowers, fruits and vegetables with its solutions, which Eurazeo said helped to safeguard three of the nine planetary boundaries; pollution and biodiversity, and to a lesser extent climate change.
Eurazeo explained that Bioline AgroSciences, which has generated double-digit sales growth since 2018, operated in a rapidly growing but extremely fragmented worldwide market, offering the opportunity to create larger champions that would help accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture.
“The fundamentals to create value are all there. The company has a very strong sales force, extensive international coverage and we have an opportunity to grow the portfolio, to consolidate the market and increase profitability for the company,” said Flak.
She added that because Eurazeo’s impact investments are driven by science-based facts, they were also better able to face off any technological risks or regulatory changes.
“Even if there was a decline in green regulation in Europe in the future, we are investing in humanity’s critical needs related to environmental change. We are therefore immune to technological risks as well as regulatory shifts,” she said.
Flak confirmed that a second investment, related to localised green energy solutions, would be announced in the coming weeks.
