Tarifa Almulhim

Associate Professor of Business Analytics

King Faisal University

Dr. Tarifa Almulhim is an Associate Professor of Business Analytics at King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, and currently holds leadership roles at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Berlin- the Cultural Bureau. She earned her PhD in Business and Management from the University of Manchester, an MSc in Operational Research from the University of Salford, and a BSc in Mathematics from KFU. Her research focuses on decision analysis and intelligent decision support systems, with particular application to renewable energy and sustainability transitions. She has published in leading international journals, received competitive Saudi government research grants, and is a Member of the GCC Energy Efficiency Network.

Participates in

TECHNICAL PROGRAMME | Energy Leadership

ESG and Governance
Forum 28 | Technical Programme Hall 5
28
April
14:30 16:00
UTC+3
Venture capital (VC) has become a key enabler of the energy transition, channeling resources into firms that pioneer renewable technologies, digital solutions, and sustainable infrastructure (Bocken, 2015). While VC-backed companies are often credited with driving innovation and growth, little is known about their efficiency when environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures are considered alongside financial outcomes (Manigart and Khosravi, 2023).

This study investigates the efficiency of energy VC-backed companies in the United States during 2020–2022, using firm-level data from the Refinitiv Eikon database. A one-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework (Banker et al., 1984) is applied, incorporating fixed assets, equity, and employment as inputs, and revenue and ESG scores as outputs. Five DEA models are estimated: a baseline ESG model, separate models for environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) dimensions, and a no-ESG model to isolate the influence of sustainability measures.

Findings indicate that only a small share of firms achieve full efficiency scores annually, highlighting the challenges of balancing financial growth with sustainability performance. Importantly, incorporating ESG measures significantly improves efficiency levels compared to the no-ESG model, demonstrating that sustainable practices enhance firm performance in the energy VC sector. Results further suggest that governance and environmental dimensions have stronger impacts on efficiency than the social dimension. Robustness checks confirm the stability of results across alternative model specifications.

This research offers one of the first systematic attempts to evaluate the efficiency of energy VC-backed firms through the integration of ESG considerations. The findings have implications for venture capitalists, policymakers, and corporate leaders seeking to strengthen the productivity and resilience of firms driving the energy transition. 

Keywords: Energy venture capital, ESG, firm efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, sustainable finance

References: 

BANKER, R. D., CHARNES, A. & COOPER, W. W. 1984. Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management science, 30, 1078-1092.

BOCKEN, N. M. P. 2015. Sustainable venture capital – catalyst for sustainable start-up success? Journal of cleaner production, 108, 647-658.

MANIGART, S. & KHOSRAVI, S. 2023. Unanswered questions in entrepreneurial finance. Venture Capital, 1-29.

Co-author/s:

Norah Almubarak, Assistant Professor, King Faisal University.
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