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Portfolio ESG highlights 2025
As part of annual monitoring and reporting campaign, Forbion collected data on several environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators for 54 private portfolio companies for 2025. This section highlights their performance on selected indicators, e.g. ESG-related policies, composition of employees by gender and carbon emissions.
Policies
Many Forbion portfolio companies are still in an early-stage of development and have not yet reached the size or organizational maturity where comprehensive policy frameworks become operational necessity or a regulatory requirement. As companies scale and professionalize, formalized policies will emerge, supported by strategic guidance and active engagement.
The adoption of ESG-related policies across the portfolio in 2025 reflects this progression. Policies linked to core operations, compliance, and risk management are generally more established, while broader, organization‑wide frameworks, such as ESG and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), are less common at earlier stages. This is a natural part of company growth with formal policies becoming more relevant as portfolio companies scale and engage with a wider range of stakeholders.
Proportion of Forbion portfolio companies with sustainability-related policies at the end of 2025
Source: Forbion Impact Survey Life Sciences 2025.
Workforce gender
The gender composition of portfolio companies’ workforce in 2025 showed a shift compared to the previous years. Women accounted for a majority of full‑time employees across the portfolio, representing a notable increase compared to 2024. In contrast, female representation at Board and C‑suite level remained largely stable over the past two years.
Composition of portfolio companies’ workforce, C-suite and Boards by gender,
2023-2025
Sustainability practices
Despite their early stage, many portfolio companies have already implemented meaningful ESG practices. About half have launched waste‑reduction initiatives, while over one‑third of companies conduct employee engagement surveys. Employee ownership is also well embedded, with an average of over 60% of employees participating in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which is an important mechanism for attracting talent and building a culture of shared ownership. Governance practices are strong, with 94% of companies having formal Board operating rules, which underscores a clear commitment to good governance and operational resilience.
Selected practices & initiatives of Forbion portfolio companies at the end of 2025
48%
Companies with waste reduction efforts
57%
Companies with cyber-security training
94%
Companies with Board operating rules
61%
Average number of employees in Equity Employee Ownership Plan
Source: Forbion ESG Survey Life Sciences 2025.
Carbon emissions
The majority of Forbion portfolio companies calculated their emissions using CO2 calculators on the Novata platform which Forbion uses to collect ESG and impact data. 46 of the 54 private companies which responded to the ESG survey reported emissions for 2025. Companies that did not provide emissions data typically do not track the inputs that are required for their calculation.
Both total GHG emissions of portfolio companies and their emissions per FTE increased in 2025 compared to 2024. The rise in total emissions is primarily due to more companies being included in the analysis and relatively more of them calculating emissions this year. However, it is important to note that the emissions numbers are understated, as they do not include data for 11 public companies which do not disclose their CO2 emissions. This is particularly reflected in the size of Scope 2 emissions.7
Scope 3 emissions are the largest contributor to the total GHG emissions of our portfolio companies, followed by Scope 2 and Scope 1. It is important to note that most Forbion portfolio companies have very lean operations, use shared working spaces and allow for employees to work from home. Furthermore, they typically do not own wet labs or car parks, and outsource their manufacturing and research activities to CROs (Contract Research Organizations) and CMOs (Contract Manufacturing Organizations). As a result, their Scope 1 and 2 emissions are rather limited. Purchased goods and services from CMOs and CROs and business travel contribute most to their Scope 3 emissions.
Consolidated portfolio GHG emissions by scope and per FTE per strategy, 2023-2025
(tCO2e)
Source: Forbion ESG Survey Life Sciences 2025.
7. Scope 1 includes direct emissions from sources owned and controlled by the reporting company. Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from energy purchased like electricity, steam, heat, or cooling, that is generated offsite and consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 includes all indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. There are 15 distinct reporting categories in Scope 3 which are typically the most complex to measure. For more information on definitions, standards and tools that help companies measure their emissions, see Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Total emissions per FTE
(tCO2e)
27.4
2025
11.9
2024
12.3
2023