The British Business Bank, UK Private Capital and Reframe Venture have launched a standardised ESG reporting template for UK venture capital, designed to create a more consistent approach to sustainability reporting between fund managers and institutional investors.
The voluntary template was developed through consultation with institutional asset owners, asset managers and venture capital fund managers. It focuses on information considered material to venture capital and growth-stage businesses, with the aim of reducing duplicated reporting requests while giving institutional investors more consistent and comparable data.
The template is aligned with established international reporting frameworks, including the ESG Data Convergence Initiative, Invest Europe’s ESG Reporting Template and the Principal Adverse Impacts under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
Adams Street Partners, StepStone Group and Isomer Capital have also backed the principle of ESG reporting harmonisation in the UK. The firms support the use of the new template and aligned reporting approaches, including Invest Europe’s ESG Reporting Guidelines where possible, subject to asset owner, regulatory and other requirements.
The organisations behind the initiative said wider adoption could reduce the administrative burden on funds and portfolio companies while helping to standardise data collection across the UK venture capital ecosystem.
The launch comes as institutional investors face growing demand for consistent sustainability information across private markets.
At least £128bn was raised between 2021 and 2025 by funds managed by UK Private Capital members that were aligned with SFDR Articles 8 or 9, or equivalent classifications.
The new template includes reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, an area where the UK compares favourably with other markets, according to analysis by ESG_VC, now part of Reframe Venture and UK Private Capital.
The analysis found that 26% of UK start-ups measure their carbon footprint, compared with 23% in Europe and 8% in the US. It also found that 16% of UK companies analysed had adopted a net zero policy or programme, compared with 13% in Europe and 7% in the US.
Johannes Lenhard, chief executive of Reframe Venture, said: “We hope that the ESG reporting burden can be dramatically reduced – which frees up time to do the real work."
Michael Moore, chief executive of UK Private Capital, added: "The template will support the collection of higher quality data that meets the needs of LPs and GPs and deliver actionable insights for firms."
Hannah Gilbert, director of sustainability at the British Business Bank, said the initiative would help frame LP-GP engagement around ESG integration and harmonised reporting in a way that is “material, proportionate and forward-looking.”
