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Peak Sustainability Ventures Successfully Completes IFC's Gender-Lens Climate Investing Program

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Peak Sustainability Ventures is proud to have been selected for IFC's inaugural Gender-Lens Climate Investing Program, as part of a 10-member cohort of leading climate investment funds across the Asia Pacific region. As one of India’s pioneering climate venture capital firms, Peak has announced a formal Gender Investment Commitment to embed gender equity across its investment processes, from sourcing and diligence to portfolio support and internal policies. Our intent is that Peak's gender commitment serves as a benchmark for other firms in the region to adopt similar standards. 
 

This commitment is the result of a 10-month engagement with IFC & Value for Women, culminating in a tailored action plan that moves beyond intent and into implementation. The initiative underscores Peak’s belief that gender inclusion is not peripheral to climate action, but central to it.

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Our Vision and Gender Commitment

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At Peak Sustainability Ventures, we aim to build one of Asia's premier climate investment firms by backing best-in-class technologies and scaling them in India and Asia. As pioneers of climate investing in the region, we believe that a sustainable transition must include a holistic approach taking into account natural, social, and human capital impacts, with gender equity being a key part of this transition. Embedding gender into our investment strategy is not only a reflection of our values, it is a lever for better outcomes. 
 

We recognise that achieving gender equity has the potential to strengthen multiple aspects of the climate story. We believe this will positively impact delivery of climate innovation; talent coming in to the sector; diversity of viewpoints in decision making; percentage of women-led climate startups; and many other areas. If the majority of firms in the region adopt gender commitments, we are convinced this will have positive external effects on the ecosystem, peer funds, and overall startup culture in the region. Through our participation in the IFC We Fund (She Wins) Climate Immersive Program, we’ve developed a tailored Gender Investment Commitment that formalises our approach.

 

Our commitment spans across four core levels:

• At the Firm Level: We are cultivating an equitable workplace culture and inclusive hiring practices, which we intend to continue building as we grow the firm. Our intent is to have women represented across the investment team, advisory board, and decision-making roles, both on the investments as well as business side. Our internal policies promote fairness through equal pay, flexible work, and a safe, certified environment.

• At the Fund Level: We are evolving our sourcing, diligence, and pipeline-building processes to reduce bias and unlock more opportunities for women-led startups. This includes tracking % of women-led companies in our pipeline, having introductory calls with a minimum number of women-led companies, partnering with accelerators, ecosystem players and groups that focus on cultivating women-founders, intentional outreach to specific startups within our areas of interest, and several other innovative strategies. A key point here is to increase intentionality and institutionalize certain processes at a Fund level.

• At the Portfolio Level: We aim to work closely with our founders to shape inclusive governance, hiring, and company culture. As Board Members and Board Observers on many of our portfolio companies, we aim to work with management teams to implement guidelines and best practices on DEI policies to ensure equity is woven into the fabric of each company.

• At the Ecosystem Level: We aim to meaningfully participate in building the ecosystem to support women entrepreneurship in the climate sector in India. In addition to our mentorship program for women-led climate startups, we will work towards promoting gender-equity through events/conferences that we host, panels that we participate on, and peer investments funds with whom we work closely. As a leading voice in this space, we believe we have the platform to meaningfully accelerate the dialogue in this area, and we would welcome collaboration with other firms. 

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Our approach is rooted in the belief that many of the sectors we invest in, such as water, agriculture, and clean energy, disproportionately impact women, and that women bring invaluable insight and lived experience to these domains.

 

By fostering gender-responsive climate investing today, we aim to shape an ecosystem that is more representative, more effective, and more enduring, ultimately leading to a better and more inclusive future.