08/10/2025
SPOTLIGHT
Anna Olsson sets the direction for sustainability value creation in properties, companies, and forests that CapMan has invested in. With her expertise, grit, and lots of positive energy, she has driven the sustainability transition across the entire organisation.
Since starting as the Head of Sustainability in the autumn of 2021, Anna Olsson’s ambition for CapMan has been high. With support from the board, management, and colleagues, she aimed to give CapMan a strong start on the journey of determining how our investments can contribute to a more resilient environment and a thriving society, while generating strong financial returns.
During the last four years, CapMan has made this happen.
As CapMan is predominantly a real asset house, we both clearly impact and are impacted by climate change. This made setting CapMan on a trajectory aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement a priority. Alignment was achieved by putting together science-based carbon emission reduction targets, making us one of the first private market firms in the world to do so.
“The real estate sector alone is responsible for almost 40% of carbon emissions globally. We wanted to meet this challenge head on,” Anna says.
By the end of 2024, CapMan Real Estate was already ahead of our reduction targets, while at the same time lowering energy expenses and enhancing tenant satisfaction. This drive has continued, with CapMan Real Estate getting its net-zero targets validated in 2025, again as one of the first in the industry.
“It’s extremely rewarding to work in private markets for an active owner. We can see concrete progress so quickly.”
Anna continues that when it comes to sustainability maturity, CapMan does not have prerequisites for the assets we invest in. Instead, we focus on the transition, working closely with our investments to raise their capacity and set them on a path towards sustainable practices.
“This is our sustainability value add. We know what needs to be done, and we work with deal teams, asset managers, and portfolio companies to get there. This work really suits me, as I like fixing things and moving forward.”
Passion and grit
When you meet Anna Olsson in person, you encounter the perfect match of positive energy and determination.
Anna grew up on the Swedish west coast in a family with a rug and art business, which also ran a small-scale forestry.
In her youth, she learned to enjoy and appreciate nature the Nordic way, with a genuine sense for woods, fields, meadows, lakes, and the sea. The beauty and magic of nature and art became a fundamental element in her life choices, both personally and professionally.
Anna has lived in several countries and bonded with people across the globe. From queer activism to human rights analysis and sustainable finance consultancy, her wide range of experiences fits perfectly with an action-oriented real asset firm that gets things done.
This is how Anna describes her way of thinking: Competence and energy are essential when it comes to inspiring others and driving progress on the journey towards a better world. You have to know how to simplify complex things and reach people where they are.
“When you work with something as multifaceted as sustainability, being able to concretise and offer it in bite-sized pieces is needed to get people on board. And to get great results, you need to be able to get people excited, speak their language, and get them to see the value and returns of the transition.”
Taking the steps together
In sustainability work, good governance and measuring impact and progress are the building blocks to get to the asset-specific, value-creating work.
Since CapMan does not require companies or properties to have robust sustainability operations before investing in them, Anna shares that systematic approaches to set this up have been developed by the sustainability team. As a first step, the sustainability team, in collaboration with asset managers and deal teams, helps implement the structures necessary to mitigate risks and to support the wider property or company-specific sustainability strategies and targets.
Anna points out that getting sustainability into the business plan is key to success, be it for infrastructure projects, properties, forestry, or companies.
Anna shares four examples she is proud of.
The first is Skarta Energy, a renewable energy company, part of the Infrastructure portfolio. After the acquisition, the sustainability team, together with the deal team and the company, successfully established a governance system, relevant sustainability policies and procedures, and set targets and metrics to track Skarta’s development. The joint effort continued in aligning the company with the EU Taxonomy. The GRESB sustainability benchmark also recognised this progress, giving five stars to the company in its initial assessment.
The second is Loviisan Lämpö, a district heating company also from our Infrastructure portfolio. The company’s inherent drive to become more sustainable in an industry that faces decarbonisation challenges is to be celebrated. Loviisan Lämpö commissioned and put into operation the world’s largest sand battery, reducing the carbon emissions of their Pornainen district heating network by around 70%.
The third example is a CapMan Real Estate-managed office building in Denmark, which has installed Scandinavia’s largest integrated solar roof, reducing CO₂ emissions by 279 tonnes annually. The roof will produce enough electricity to match the building’s total annual consumption, slashing the operating costs.
The final one is our Natural Capital investment team, which is ensuring that their sustainable forest management is certified by both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) across all assets and funds. Certified wood products attract premium prices, the demand for certified wood has grown and is expected to keep growing in the coming years.
Winning concept
According to Anna, companies that do nothing on sustainability will lose value. This can happen quickly at a time when investors, customers, and consumers are demanding that companies take responsibility.
“When it comes to our portfolio companies, we offer a systematic and efficient way to put the fundamentals in place. We also provide a sustainability expert resource that they might not have access to otherwise.”
Anna shares that financial backing, combined with green transition ambitions and in-house sustainability competence, is a winning concept. The collaboration is much appreciated by the companies as it allows them not only to comply with regulations but to reduce risks, cut costs, and capture sustainability growth opportunities.
This is what continuously drives CapMan’s sustainability work forward. It also inspires new ways of thinking, finding innovative ways to uncover opportunities, and creating profit in a world that is rapidly changing.
In the past year, CapMan has developed a nature framework that is leaning on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science Based Targets on Nature. The framework covers Real Estate, Infrastructure, Natural Capital and Private Equity and is built around the five nature pressures. The approach was piloted with different property types, forest assets, and companies, and the work continues in fine-tuning this approach. This framework is now being taken into practice.
Being aware of the human rights responsibilities in our value chain, CapMan has conducted a salient human rights risk assessment across operations and investment teams. From this, the sustainability team has developed a roadmap to enhance existing human rights due diligence at the group level and across our assets, providing concrete guidance for implementing it in property asset management and portfolio companies. Other themes that CapMan is driving include diversity and inclusivity, and meaningful work.
Developing best practices and building trust
Anna shares that CapMan has invested in developing its sustainability competence, resulting in a team of subject matter experts. As CapMan has the in-house competence, the sustainability team has been part of developing industry and asset-specific best practice.
“I am fortunate to work with such an excellent sustainability team. They’re all quite senior, which is rare in sustainability. They are experts in their fields with very different but complementary backgrounds,” says Anna.
“They impress me. They’re always willing to figure out what works best in practice and translate science to action. Because of this strong team, we can be part of developing best practice in our fields.”
When asked about the growing resistance and geopolitical concerns of today, Anna highlights that the past years’ sustainability trend was never what drove the sustainability work at CapMan. For us, sustainability makes business sense.
Being a Nordic investor investing predominantly in the Nordics, Anna highlights that CapMan is part of building the society that we want to live in. The current geopolitical situation and talk of sustainability backlash do not rattle long-term perspectives on sustainability risks and opportunities.
“This backlash is welcome in a way, as it helps us sharpen our focus and pushes us to do better, concentrating on what truly matters: how to build a future where businesses, people, and planet can all thrive.”
At CapMan, active ownership is the foundation of everything. This occurs through asset management, representation on the board of directors, and active engagement with portfolio companies. For an investor that wants to focus on sustainability transition, this provides a clear advantage over investing in public companies, where your mandate is more limited.
“There are those who say it is harder to make sustainability happen in privately owned companies and that private markets are behind on sustainability. As you can see, my experience is the opposite.”
Anna Olsson
- Born: On the Swedish West (Best) Coast
- Does: Head of Sustainability CapMan since 2021.
- Education: Master Programme in Political Sciences, International Relations at Linköping University 2004–2011 and Philosophy at Uppsala University 2001–2002.
- Previous experience: Sustainability consultant at ISS ESG, most recently Head of ESG Specialist team Northern Europe and APAC 2015–2021, Human Rights Analyst and Engagement manager at Ethix SRI Advisors 2013–2015, Project manager for integration- and queer activist projects at Rädda Barnen 2005–2011.
- Engagements: Board member of the integration organisation Nya Kompisbyrån/Nema Problema.
- Interests: Traveling, photography, literature, outdoor activities, training, family, and friends.
- Hidden talent: Perfect pitch.
Introducing spotlight – stories from behind the scenes at CapMan
Welcome to Spotlight, our new content series offering a look behind the scenes at CapMan through the eyes of our people. In each edition, we’ll share career stories, insights into the work of CapManians, and what motivates them in their roles.