Clearlake has a particular concern and awareness of the consequences of climate change, corresponding risks to investments, and the important role the financial sector must play to mitigate climate change. The Firm takes a long-term perspective and uses accountability as a fulcrum for climate stewardship. Accordingly, the firm has identified the need to develop, implement and communicate a long-term strategy that supports climate change policy coherence and orients companies towards global decarbonization. Clearlake continues to view climate risk management strategies as important tools to help measure, disclose, and reduce the carbon footprint of our portfolio in addition to taking steps to reduce our own direct environmental footprint.

We engage with our controlled portfolio companies to understand the respective company’s approach to identifying climate-related risks and the policies and practices in place to address such issues and will work alongside management to highlight emerging climate-related trends. For example, we partnered with our portfolio company, Diligent, in a successful effort to reduce paper usage across the firm. Agendas, documents, annotations and discussions of board meetings are now virtual; this move alone is estimated to save upwards of 70,000 pages of paper annually.

One of our companies, Alkegen, provides another example of our incorporation of ESG principles throughout our portfolio. Alkegen, formerly Unifrax and Lydall, specializes in high-performance specialty materials designed to reduce fossil fuel usage, decrease pollution, and save energy through long-lasting and safer industrial and battery technologies. Alkegen provides mission critical specialty materials, including electric vehicles, energy storage, filtration, fire protection and high-temperature insulation, among many others. Alkegen’s products are designed with the goal of saving energy, reducing pollution, and improving safety for people, buildings and equipment as part of its mission to help the world breathe easier, live greener, and go further than ever before. Alkegen delivers solutions, such as:

• Silicon Fiber Anode Battery (SiFAB™) technology, resulting in longer battery life and faster-charging and improved performance for consumer electronics, power tools, aerospace, energy storage, and electric vehicles..
• A new catalyst substrate technology, Eco-lytic™, which reduces the environmental impact of combustion engines and improves energy efficiency in vehicle engines. With Eco-lytic™, the transportation industry can drive a more sustainable carbon footprint through vehicle weight reduction and packaging options that reduce waste. Tests have shown a 40% reduction in platinum group metal over traditional systems. Eco-lytic™ may help prolong engine life and enable manufacturers to adhere to ESG standards and regulations as the broader automobile industry continues to shift towards electric vehicles (EVs).
• New High Efficiency Filtration (HEF) products including:
  • Alkegen’s new air filtration media,TriboStatiX™, a MERV 13 high-performance pleat media that provides lower initial resistance, reducing the amount of energy required in an HVAC unit and lowering overall operating costs. TriboStatiX™ improves indoor air quality through consistent filtration performance and high dirt holding capacity, providing longer service life and reduced energy demand.
  • Alkegen’s new line of meltblown liquid filtration media, LyPore^® MB, designed to meet the most critical application requirements, while providing high filtration efficiency, low-pressure drop and excellent dirt holding capacity. Available in Polypropylene and PBT, single layer or composite and calendared to meet the most complex liquid filtration challenges. Chosen for such applications as food and beverage and lube oil, incorporating LyPore^® MB into filter designs improves filtration efficiency and extends filter life resulting in a higher performing finished filter and lower total cost for the end user.
  • Alkegen’s new molecular filtration media, LydAir^® GP, which offers superior performance with expanded capabilities. State-of-the-art manufacturing facilitates exceptional uniformity and layering of a wide range of functional adsorbents including activated carbon and ion exchange resins. Additionally, particulate filter media can be laminated in line providing a combination media for both molecular and particle filtration. LydAir® GP offers 20%-30% better performance per specific gram of media, which results in higher efficiency and product performance that can be engineered to meet specific application demands.