PRIVATE EQUITY’S DIRTY DOZEN

The report profiles 12 private equity firms—including Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR—detailing their substantial portfolios of oil, gas, and coal assets. It argues that these firms fuel the climate crisis and environmental injustice while their executives accumulate immense wealth and social prestige. The document provides specific examples of environmental violations, such as oil spills and methane leaks, and highlights the firms' tendency to avoid global climate pledges like those made at COP26.

• Private equity firms manage over $7 trillion in capital and have invested billions in fossil fuels, including fracked gas, oil pipelines, coal plants, and offshore drilling.
• Blackstone owns the Gen. James M. Gavin coal plant in Ohio, which was among the ten worst greenhouse gas emitters in 2019 according to the EPA, and has a 6.9 percent stake in Energy Transfer Partners, the owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
• The Carlyle Group maintains a significant ownership stake in NGP Energy Capital and has partnered with Hilcorp Energy; Hilcorp's methane emissions are described as dwarfing those of ExxonMobil.
• KKR holds a controlling stake in the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline in Canada, a project built through unceded Indigenous territories that has faced blockades by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
• ArcLight Capital Partners acquired the Limetree Bay oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands, which was shut down by the EPA in May 2021 after emitting a toxic spray that impacted majority-Black communities on St. Croix.
• Ares Management acquired a stake in California Resources Corporation (CRC), the state's largest oil and gas producer, which owns nearly 8,000 idle wells in California as of January 2021.
• Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) invested $10 billion as part of a consortium to buy a 49 percent stake in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (ADNOC) infrastructure.
• Kayne Anderson was a major shareholder of Plains All American Pipeline, which was responsible for the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill in California, resulting in a $60 million penalty.
• Oaktree Capital, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, partnered with Diversified Energy in a $1 billion venture to acquire oil and gas wells, including 660 wells in Oklahoma in October 2021.
• Warburg Pincus's Zenith Energy terminal in Portland, Oregon, faced opposition and was denied expansion certification in August 2021 due to risks associated with transporting Canadian oil sands crude.
• Riverstone Holdings acquired Talen Energy in 2016; Talen operates numerous fossil fuel plants and faced a $1 million penalty for Clean Water Act violations at the Brunner Island plant.
• EnCap Investments' portfolio is heavily weighted toward fossil fuels, with 84 percent of its 'select' current holdings consisting of midstream and upstream oil and gas companies.

APA

Seidman, D., Mehta-Neugebauer, R., Giachino, A., & Mendoza, A. (2022). PRIVATE EQUITY’S DIRTY DOZEN. Private Equity Stakeholder Project. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PESP_LS_PrivateEquityDirtyDozen_Feb2022-Final.pdf

Chicago

Seidman, Derek, Riddhi Mehta-Neugebauer, Alyssa Giachino, and Amanda Mendoza. PRIVATE EQUITY’S DIRTY DOZEN. Private Equity Stakeholder Project, 2022. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PESP_LS_PrivateEquityDirtyDozen_Feb2022-Final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Seidman |first1=Derek |last2=Mehta-Neugebauer |first2=Riddhi |last3=Giachino |first3=Alyssa |last4=Mendoza |first4=Amanda |title=PRIVATE EQUITY’S DIRTY DOZEN |publisher=Private Equity Stakeholder Project |date=February 2022 |url=https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PESP_LS_PrivateEquityDirtyDozen_Feb2022-Final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{seidman2022private, author = {Seidman, Derek and Mehta-Neugebauer, Riddhi and Giachino, Alyssa and Mendoza, Amanda}, title = {{PRIVATE EQUITY’S DIRTY DOZEN}}, institution = {Private Equity Stakeholder Project}, year = {2022}, month = feb, url = {https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PESP_LS_PrivateEquityDirtyDozen_Feb2022-Final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }