April – A Month Dedicated to Sustainability

Impact investing, i.e. sustainable and responsible investing, is a need for more and more investors. Rolf Helbling explains the five most important reasons why impact investing is extremely important and financially very worthwhile:

1. Double Bottom Line:

Impact investing aims to achieve positive social and environmental effects in addition to financial returns. Investments support projects or companies in areas such as energy saving, renewable energies, resource efficiency or healthcare.

2. Long-Term Financial Returns:

“Companies that pursue sustainable and responsible practices are often better positioned for long-term success. The investment focus on companies that essentially promote a more efficient use of resources forms the basis for an attractive return. Studies show that impact investments offer competitive financial returns by capitalising on long-term opportunities and mitigating risks arising from unsustainable business practices.

3. Risk Minimisation:

By integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment decisions, potential risks can be better identified and minimised. Companies that operate sustainably are often less susceptible to regulatory changes and scandals.

4. Fulfilment of Personal Values:

Many investors want to invest their capital in line with their personal values. Impact investing enables investors to make a positive contribution to society and the environment with their capital and at the same time fulfil their own ethical expectations.

5. Market and Innovation Potential:

Impact plants support innovative companies and technologies that develop solutions for today’s biggest challenges. This can lead to the creation of new markets and business opportunities that drive long-term growth and positive change in the area of energy and resource efficiency.

“Impact investing gives investors the opportunity to play an important role in tackling global challenges while generating attractive financial returns.”

Rolf Helbling, Founder Carnot Capital & Portfolio Manager

The global data centre market continues to grow unabated. A significant proportion of this growth comes from ‘hyperscale data centres’, which are being built by large technology groups such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon. The increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is significantly changing the requirements for data centres. These technologies require more computing power and higher rack densities, which necessitates new designs and increases location requirements. In addition, the demand for “colocation”, i.e. capacity close to users, is increasing to ensure faster loading times.

Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

The sustainability and energy consumption of data centres is an increasingly important aspect, as energy costs and environmental impact are rising steeply. There is a need to improve energy efficiency, and there are several approaches to this:

• Cooling is the most important consumption factor. Free cooling or liquid cooling are common efficiency measures.
• Eliminating losses from sub-optimal power distribution significantly reduces energy consumption.
• Energy for the infrastructure increases energy consumption – building automation helps to reduce this consumption.
• Many data centre operators rely on renewable energies to reduce their carbon footprint.

In order to build “green data centres” in the future, a holistic approach is required. This enables optimised energy efficiency and therefore both economic and ecological benefits.

Data Centers in the Carnot Capital Portfolio

Schneider Electric has developed a platform that enables the analysis, monitoring and automation of data centres. Data centres are an important part of the core business, accounting for almost 20% of sales. At ABB and Hubbell, this share is around 10% and also makes a substantial contribution to sales growth. Instalco, a Scandinavian installation company, and Energiekontor, which develops wind and solar projects for the operation of data centres, are also benefiting. Finally, Carel, a new portfolio item, develops advanced cooling systems tailored to the requirements of data centres.