Rich Lesser, the global chair and former CEO of Boston Consulting Group, and Jeff Johnson, the former managing director of Temasek, have joined the global investment firm B Capital, which has previously backed companies including Byju's, Meesho, and Pharmeasy in India, in an effort to grow its climate investment business.

To oversee the company's expanding climate investment unit, B Capital, Lesser has joined as vice chair, climate & sustainability, and senior adviser, while Johnson has joined as general partner.

To further strengthen the team, they will work with senior principal Karly Wentz and general partner Karan Mohla of B Capital's Asia team.

Lesser will stay on at BCG and fortify the ties between the two companies in the field of climate technology.
“He has an unmatched reputation for climate and sustainability leadership, including serving as chief advisor to the World Economic Forum’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and building out the practice area at BCG,” says Raj Ganguly, cofounder and co-CEO at B Capital.

Fighting climate change would demand substantial resources and creativity across industries, with an estimated $5 trillion in annual investment required by 2030 to meet UN net zero commitments.

“Combating climate change requires big ideas, complex solutions and an exceptional ability to execute. With its comprehensive global platform, unique corporate network and value-add approach, B Capital is positioned as the partner of choice for climate entrepreneurs,” Johnson says.

The company has made recent climate investments in Patch Technologies, a platform that connects buyers and sellers of carbon credits through a suite of APIs and developer tools, and Accacia, a company that offers artificial intelligence-enabled decarbonisation solutions to the real estate sector.