Investments
Heading for Change is building a global private markets demonstration portfolio of funds investing at the nexus of climate solutions and gender equity. At the moment we are not invested in public markets, with the ultimate aim to create a multi-asset class blended portfolio.
Our investments work in parallel with our grant capital to advance climate solutions and build the field, creating a growing evidence base for why a gender lens matters in addressing the climate crisis – and how to integrate it for improved financial, social and environmental outcomes.
By investing in gender-smart climate fund managers – and the innovators they back – we help vital climate solutions get to market, scale, and effect change.
Investment strategy
The Heading for Change Investment Strategy draws on a range of frameworks across gender, social justice, and climate investing. It is anchored in three key pillars:
1. Climate
Climate-, nature-, and biodiversity-first funds that are investing a majority of assets in opportunities critical to a just and green transition
2. Gender
Funds that embed gender-smart investing principles at both the fund manager and portfolio levels and across the broader value chain.
3. Climate and Gender Integration
Investments that adopt an integrated gender and climate approach, including the advancement of women as agents of change across the investment thesis, processes and broader value chain. We also look for models that undertake deeper and more transformative actions, which eliminate barriers to equal participation, improve livelihoods and resilience for women and other underserved communities.
We also apply two cross-cutting lenses:
Social Justice: We back diverse and underrepresented fund managers, especially those with local representation and community-rooted approaches.
Just Transition: We invest in strategies that ensure the benefits of the green transition are widely shared, and that affected communities are not left behind.
We define "diverse founders" as anyone identifying as: a woman or girl, LGBQTI+ or person of color. Heading for Change also cares deeply about Neurodivergence and Disability, and would consider it a plus if funds shared that vision.
The Heading for Change investment strategy has been informed by multiple gender, social justice, and climate investment frameworks, and we are constantly trying to see where we can bring in existing frameworks and best practices to enhance our strategy and connection to the broader community of practice in climate and gender integration.
For more underlying tools and resources that have informed and inspired our Investment Strategy, see Heading for Change Tools > and Ecosystem Resources >
An Integrated Lens: Women as Agents of Change
Our “Women as Agents of Change” thesis seeks out investment opportunities and solutions that centre women in their creation and leverage women’s insights and intelligence to create better and more just climate outcomes.
This lens of women as change agents and drivers of climate-smart solutions exist across the entire value chain: from fund managers deciding where, when, how and in whom capital is invested, to philanthropists financing catalytic projects and de-risking solutions, to the woman entrepreneur who uses sustainable land management practices on her farm to preserve it for future generations, to the woman innovator who designs a new bag for fertilizer so it is easier to carry over long distances. Our integrated climate and gender lens embodies how a gender lens can cut across and be both broad and deep, and how it is important to go beyond a checkbox activity of whether there are women on board. In our analysis and due diligence we look at power, decision making, the roles that women play in the workforce and supply chain as well as how supported/set up for success they are, as well as their influence as consumers and financial decision makers.
Check out our Portfolio below to see examples of our Women as Agents of Change framework in action.
Portfolio
Our global portfolio is diversified across regions (North America, LATAM, Europe, Africa and Asia- South, Southeast, Asia Pacific- MENA), markets (developed and emerging) and climate and nature-related themes (Climate Tech, Food Systems & Sustainable Agriculture, Oceans & Water, Biodiversity & Forestry), as well as across fund size, asset class, and return targets. Download the detailed investment criteria below.
