48: Craig Cogut of Pegasus Capital: Climate Funds and Nature Based Solutions

Craig Cogut | Founder, Chairman & CEO | Pegasus Capital Advisors

Craig Cogut has spent a career building successful investment businesses. Mr. Cogut founded Pegasus, a private equity fund, in 1995 and serves as its Chairman and CEO. Through Mr. Cogut’s leadership, Pegasus has focused on sectors influenced by global resource scarcity and the need to combat climate change, as well as on the growth in demands globally for human health and wellness, leading to Pegasus becoming the first U.S. private equity fund manager to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund. In 1990 Mr. Cogut co-founded and was one of the original partners at Apollo Advisors L.P., a position he held for six years preceding the creation of Pegasus. Mr. Cogut has been an active philanthropist in the fields of improving education, building civil society and championing environmental and health issues. Mr. Cogut is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of HealthE, Inc. and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of PanTheryx. Mr. Cogut is an alumnus of Brown University and Harvard Law School.

About Pegasus Capital Advisors | Creating value beyond returns

Pegasus is a leading global private markets impact investment manager. As the first U.S. private equity fund manager accredited by the Green Climate Fund, they are dedicated to fostering sustainable growth while providing attractive returns for investors. Pegasus way is rooted in a deep commitment to creating long-term value beyond returns, pioneering in commercial impacting investing and has invested more than USD 2.6bn on behalf of clients helping great businesses to grow and make a positive difference. ​

Key Points:

• Go outside your bubbles to get inspiration.
• Although they are diverse sectors and geographies, technologies that will work are not all that different.
• “We want to build businesses for the long term, which will continue to be valuable, and will be even more valuable in somebody else's hands.” 
• Climate can destroy a business's supply chain, it can destroy consumer preferences, there are so many aspects you have to factor in sustainability into your very future.
• The Subnational Climate Fund (SCF) is our first product to bring creative solutions in blended finance to the emerging markets.
• Nature based solutions are about holistic solutions. It really is measuring how do we use biodiversity and use nature to help us solve a number of issues.

Time Stamp: 

[0:00:50] Intro

[0:09:26] What is sustainable and impact investing?

[0:11:15] Climate change - Great impact on businesses

[0:12:01] Sustainable investment dilemma 

[0:12:21] Dilemma not one size fits all

[0:15:29] Important of transition finance

[0:17:40] Water is no longer free

[0:22:43] Clothing and ice cream productions are serious threat to water

[0:26:56] Pegasus focuses on sustainability and health and wellness

[0:29:43] Young consumers cares about product sustainability 

[0:31:07] The 6 funds by Pegasus 

[0:43:41] Pegasus focus on Carribean and Central America is resilient and sustainable agriculture

[0:44:40] SCF’s certification by the Green Climate Fund

[0:47:51] The importance of mission driven CEOs in a business

[0:53:40] Pegasus in the next 30 years

[0:57:22] How ESG definition is changing

[0:59:05] Nature based solutions clean up environment in harmony with nature

[1:04:23] Developing sustainable and regenerative agriculture for island nations

[1:06:26] Challenges of greenwashing and ESG

[1:12:03] Integrity is vital for creating businesses

[1:18:41] Craig’s advice for someone interested in launching a (Impact