The world of private equity has been fertile ground for the adoption of alternative data, including AI-driven insights from firms like SESAMm, an expert in Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Could SESAMm’s technology provide Carlyle with the tools to identify a better class of investment opportunity?

When SESAMm’s CEO Sylvain Forté met the man in charge of data at The Carlyle Group, at an industry conference, the opportunity arose to put SESAMm’s data to the test.

“I remember the first day I met Sylvain and he said, I can tell you if your company is trending positively or negatively on the internet,” recounts Matt Anderson, Chief Data Officer of Carlyle, at a recent PE Insights webinar, in which EQT and Apollo were also speaking. Sensing potential in the data, he decided to give it a go.

SESAMm’s NLP platform generates quantitative and qualitative analytics on a wide array of entities – from public and private companies, to brands, products and individuals, by running cutting edge algorithms across billions of web-based articles.

Their data lake is not limited to news stories from the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, but spans a whole variety of global sources – social media, blog posts, professional forums, customer reviews and more, in over 100 languages.

Using this ability to interpret unstructured text from a huge slice of the internet, SESAMm’s team created insights designed to help Matt’s deal teams evaluate target companies.

The challenge was getting investment professionals to buy into the value of alternative data for private companies, so SESAMm condensed everything into easily-digestible reports. They included time-series and charts measuring companies on a variety of key metrics versus their peers, including ESG risk, e-reputation, competitive positioning, sentiment, positive and negative themes and other critical KPIs.

By regularly presenting SESAMm’s analytics reports to investment committees, Sylvain and Matt hoped to gradually convince deal teams that alternative data could have a positive impact on the investment process.

“It was about sharing the data in the form of slides directly with deal teams in a way that was automated on our side but easily consumable as part of the pre-deal decision process”, said Forté.

“We saw the need to convince people and show, time after time, that it really works, that this data is really valuable and can give an edge”, added Forté.

“In some instances it helped us to not make investments or avoid allocating resources to things that were marginal or moving in the wrong direction, and that was really valuable”, said Anderson.

To further prove the value of the data, Matt asked Sylvain to create analytics reports on a selection of Carlyle’s historical target companies. The idea was to see if SESAMm’s scores and analytics were predictive of the deal outcome, whether positive or negative.

“If we put a number on how positive SESAMm feels about some of these deals between one and ten, with one being, ‘avoid at all costs’ , and ten, ‘go for it’, what would it have told us?”, said Anderson.

After running the back test, the results showed a clear correlation between SESAMm’s analysis, and the deals that performed well and those that fell through.

“Looking at the results, I think that people would have really paused an investment committee around some of the conclusions”, commented Anderson.

“Having a view of the themes being surfaced, the plateaus in certain trends, and the sentiment charts heading in a negative direction was eye-opening for our leaders and deal teams – because they had to actually live through those deals. So seeing that kind of data, and what it can help you avoid was really insightful.” Says Anderson.

Ultimately, the integration of SESAMm’s analytics reports into Carlyle’s investment process was so successful that they were rolled out across all global investment teams. The two companies have developed a strong partnership based on the proven value of alternative data in the private equity investment process.

To find out how SESAMm can support your investment decision-making, to request a demo or for any other questions regarding our data do not hesitate to contact info@sesamm.com.

As Climate Week NYC approaches, artificial intelligence is emerging as a transformative force in sustainability reporting and ESG practices. This year's event preparations signal a fundamental shift from traditional manual processes to AI-powered solutions that promise to revolutionize how companies track, analyze, and report their environmental impact.

The Technology Focus

Among the notable events planned is "How AI is Disrupting Sustainability Reporting," hosted by Sustainserv in partnership with leading technology and sustainability firms, scheduled for September 23, 2025. This event exemplifies the industry's growing recognition that AI technologies may be key to solving persistent sustainability measurement and reporting challenges.

The focus on AI reflects urgent industry needs. Traditional ESG reporting has long struggled with data collection complexity, accuracy concerns, and the challenge of tracking Scope 3 emissions across global supply chains. Manual processes are proving inadequate for the scale and sophistication required by modern sustainability commitments.

AI's Transformative Applications

AI is addressing these challenges through several breakthrough applications. Advanced machine learning algorithms can now automatically extract and validate data from multiple sources, providing real-time monitoring of environmental metrics and cross-referencing information to identify inconsistencies that might indicate greenwashing.

Perhaps most significantly, AI is revolutionizing Scope 3 emissions tracking, the most complex aspect of carbon accounting. Machine learning algorithms can map intricate supplier networks, automatically calculate emissions factors, and use predictive modeling to estimate emissions even when supplier data is incomplete.

Computer vision technologies are opening new frontiers in environmental monitoring, from satellite imagery analysis for deforestation tracking to automated waste sorting optimization. Natural language processing enables automated analysis of sustainability reports and regulatory compliance monitoring.

Investment Implications

For investors, this AI-ESG convergence represents both opportunity and transformation. Enhanced due diligence capabilities allow for more sophisticated ESG analysis, including automated screening of potential investments and real-time monitoring of portfolio companies' sustainability performance.

The integration also creates new investment themes, from ESG technology companies developing AI solutions to traditional software companies pivoting to sustainability applications. Asset managers benefit from reduced costs for ESG research, faster regulatory response times, and improved accuracy in risk assessment.

Challenges and Considerations

Despite the promise, AI integration faces significant challenges. Data quality remains a concern, as AI systems are only as good as their underlying data. Historical ESG data may contain biases, and algorithmic bias could perpetuate existing inequalities.

Regulatory uncertainty adds complexity, with unclear guidelines on AI use in ESG reporting and potential liability issues for AI-generated recommendations. Implementation requires substantial organizational change, including staff training and system integration.

Looking Forward

The prominence of AI-focused events at Climate Week NYC signals that the sustainability industry is entering a new technological era. As AI continues to mature, the industry is likely to see more accurate, timely, and comprehensive sustainability data.

This evolution could accelerate the transition to more sustainable business practices by making environmental and social impacts more visible and actionable. However, success will ultimately be measured not by technological sophistication alone, but by the ability to drive real-world improvements in environmental and social outcomes.

SESAMm’s AI Technology Reveals ESG Insights

Discover unparalleled insights into ESG controversies, risks, and opportunities across industries. Learn more about how SESAMm can help you analyze millions of private and public companies using AI-powered text analysis tools.

For nearly three decades, the world has annually witnessed an event of critical importance for the future of our climate: the Conferences of the Parties, better known as the COP. First held in 1995 following the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, these conferences bring together nations that have ratified this treaty in a collective effort to combat climate change, a phenomenon increasingly evident in our daily lives.

Among these conferences, two stand out for their significant impact. The first COP3, held in Kyoto in 1997, marked a turning point with the near-unanimous adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. This agreement, which came into force in 2005 after intense negotiations, mandated signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5% by 2012. Despite its legally binding nature, some countries attempted to diminish its ambition, and others, like the United States, never ratified it. Canada withdrew from the treaty in 2011, citing the discovery of highly polluting tar sands in Alberta. At the 2012 Doha conference, the Kyoto Protocol was extended until 2020 despite the absence of the US agreement.

COP15, held in Copenhagen in 2009, acknowledged for the first time the necessity of limiting global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels and proposed the creation of a Green Climate Fund endowed with 100 billion US dollars annually until 2020. Unfortunately, this initiative lacked legal enforcement and clear rules for fund allocation. By 2014, after the Lima conference, the Green Climate Fund had only amassed 10 billion US dollars.

Then came COP21 in 2015 in Paris, one of the most well-known conferences, which led to the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement set three primary goals:

1. Limit Temperature Rise: Keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
2. Adapt to Climate Impacts: Enhance the ability of countries to adapt to climate change impacts, focusing on resilience and adaptive capacity, especially in vulnerable regions.
   
3. Align Financial Flows: Redirect financial flows towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development, ensuring consistent support for mitigation and adaptation.

Once again, the agreement was not, or only minimally, binding: Participant countries were encouraged to define their "Nationally Determined Contributions" to be re-evaluated and submitted to the UN every five years, with each submission expected to be more ambitious than the last. The only legal obligation was the transparency of national contributions and their evaluation by experts.

The Paris Agreement, however, paved the way for landmark climate litigation, including a significant case in the Netherlands where a foundation sued the Dutch government for reducing its climate ambitions. The government lost, with the European Convention on Human Rights forming the legal basis of the decision.

From Words to Deeds: The Struggle for Effective Climate Change Policies at COP28

The climate is a highly complex system with significant inertia; actions taken today might only manifest their effects in a century! As of 2020, global warming is estimated to be around +1.2°C, with an increase of approximately +0.2°C per decade.

Current policies are steering us toward a +3°C increase, underscoring the need for a COP that results in a binding agreement backed by major powers and supported by financial measures. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had suggested a global tax on financial transactions to fund the Green Climate Fund.

There is also hope for new agreements to ban subsidies for fossil fuels. However, the fact that COP28 is set to take place in the United Arab Emirates, chaired by the CEO of the national oil company, sends a mixed message. It is crucial that Gulf countries play a significant role on the international stage, especially given the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in late 2023, highlighting their pivotal role in both international peace and climate change issues. On the latter, the trajectory is concerning: 181 million tons of oil were extracted in 2022, an increase of nearly 11% in a year, and gas extractions, though stable over the past year, have risen by 9% since 2012.
COP28, therefore, faces legitimate criticism, with the most significant being that the conference could be an exercise in greenwashing. Recent allegations reported by the BBC suggest potential misuse of the COP presidency to secure new oil and gas contracts.

Finally, responsibility contributions remain unresolved: the "Economic North" is primarily responsible for climate change, yet those who will suffer the most are the countries of the "Global South." Some island nations are even at risk of disappearing due to rising sea levels caused by climate change, and certain areas could become uninhabitable by 2050 due to extreme temperatures and humidity, preventing natural cooling processes like sweating. Addressing loss and damage will also be a central point at the conference.

Stay tuned for the second part summarizing the debates and agreements done at COP 28.