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British Business Bank, UK Private Capital and Reframe Venture launch standardised ESG reporting template for UK venture capital

Press release 20 October 2026

  • New voluntary template will provide a consistent approach to ESG reporting between venture capital fund managers and UK institutional investors
  • Developed through consultation with institutional asset owners, asset managers and VC fund managers
  • Aligned with established international frameworks, including the Invest Europe ESG Reporting Template

Reframe Venture, the British Business Bank and UK Private Capital are today launching a new ESG reporting template to harmonise engagements between GPs and UK institutional LPs with venture capital investments.

Developed through consultation with institutional asset owners, asset managers and venture capital fund managers, the template focuses on information that is material to VC and growth-stage businesses. By aligning reporting requests around a common set of metrics, it aims to reduce duplication for fund managers and portfolio companies while giving institutional investors access to more consistent and comparable information.

The template is aligned directly with metrics in the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI), Invest Europe’s ESG Reporting Template, and the PAIs of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). You can access the UK venture capital reporting template on the UK Private Capital website.

While this template is voluntary, the involved asset owners and asset managers, Adams Street Partners, StepStone Group and Isomer Capital agree on:

  • Supporting the principle of ESG reporting harmonisation in the UK;

and/or for those making UK venture capital investments 

  • Accepting this template and aligned reporting templates, including Invest Europe’s ESG Reporting Guidelines where possible, subject to asset owner, regulator, and other requirements.

Widespread use of this template will help converge investor reporting requirements, reducing the administrative burden on funds and portfolio companies. It will also enable more harmonised data collection in the UK VC ecosystem.

Growing demand for consistent sustainability data

Sustainability is central to a growing share of fund strategies within the private capital industry.  At least £128bn was raised by funds managed by UK Private Capital members aligned to (SFDR) Articles 8 or 9 or equivalent between 2021-2025.

Demand for clear and consistent sustainability information is therefore increasing as institutional investors consider greater allocations to private markets, including venture capital. A common reporting approach can help investors assess material risks and opportunities without placing disproportionate demands on early-stage and scaling businesses.

The new reporting template will request GPs to report on Green House Gas Emissions, an ESG reporting area in which the UK leads compared to many comparative countries.  A report from ESG_VC now part of Reframe Venture, which included analysis from UK Private Capital, found that 26% of UK start-ups measure their carbon footprint compared to 23% in Europe and only 8% in the US, while 16% of UK companies analysed have adopted a net zero policy or programme versus 13% in Europe, and 7% in the US.

Increasing institutional investment in venture capital

Government, institutional investors and private capital firms agree that more institutional capital should flow into UK venture. However, UK Private Capital’s recent report, DC Pensions & Private Capital: The State of the Market (PDF, 20 pages), found that despite signs that pension funds and other institutional investors intend to broaden their asset allocations, and some DC schemes having established new teams and structures for investment, evidence to-date indicates that actual allocations from default funds into private markets remain very low.

By aligning expectations around sustainability reporting between fund managers and institutional investors, this template aims to support the flow of institutional capital into UK VC and allowing UK savers to benefit from the success of Britain’s world-class innovation economy.

Reframe Venture CEO, Dr Johannes Lenhard, said: 

We are incredibly happy that after the success of the InvestEurope template and the harmonisation process over the last years in continental Europe, the UK is now next; we hope that the ESG reporting burden can be dramatically reduced - which frees up time to do the real work. Thank you to all the institutional LPs for pushing this forward with us!

UK Private Capital Chief Executive, Michael Moore, said:

This template marks an important step forward to ensuring impactful and proportionate ESG reporting and reducing unnecessary burden on firms.

The template will support the collection of higher quality data that meets the needs of LPs and GPs, and deliver actionable insights for firms.

British Business Bank, Director Sustainability, Hannah Gilbert, said:

We were pleased to support this initiative, which helps frame LP–GP engagement around ESG integration and harmonised reporting in a way that is material, proportionate, and forward-looking.

It represents another formative step in bringing together the UK venture ecosystem and institutional investors to access outstanding opportunities on their doorstep.

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact [email protected].

Notes to editors

About Reframe Venture

Established in 2021, Reframe Venture is a non-profit organisation that works with 180 VC member funds and 120 institutional LPs on implementing robust responsible investment practices across the value chain and ecosystems globally.

About UK Private Capital 

UK Private Capital is the industry body and public policy advocate for the private equity (PE), venture capital (VC) and private credit ecosystem in the UK. With a membership of 600 firms, we represent UK-based private capital firms, as well as their professional advisers and a large base of UK and global investors. The private equity, venture capital and private credit industry has a vital role to play in driving national and regional growth. Currently 13,000 companies - employing 2.5 million people, are backed by private capital investment in the UK. 

About the British Business Bank 

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

In 2025/261 1 , the Bank supported UK smaller businesses to access £9.4bn of finance, made up of £1.3bn of public funding, £4.3bn of private capital crowded in by the Bank and £3.7bn of lending the Bank guaranteed. The funding benefited 38,000 UK businesses, including around 30,000 businesses the Bank had not previously helped to fund.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.

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