Shareholders turn a blind eye to Carlyle's fossil fuel investments

The Carlyle Group, a major private equity firm with US$382 billion in assets under management, is accused of maintaining a fossil fuel-heavy portfolio that contradicts its net-zero 2050 commitment. Research indicates Carlyle invests sixteen dollars in fossil fuels for every one dollar invested in renewable energy. A key example is Neptune Energy, a company co-founded by Carlyle that continues upstream oil and gas expansion, including in the Barents Sea. The document highlights that Carlyle's shareholders, including major asset managers like BlackRock and Amundi, overwhelmingly supported the re-election of board members at the most recent Annual General Meeting, thereby endorsing a strategy that lacks a public fossil fuel policy and fails to align with a 1.5°C pathway.

• Carlyle's energy investment ratio is heavily skewed toward fossil fuels, investing sixteen dollars in fossil fuels for every single dollar invested in renewable energy, which contrasts with the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions scenario requiring a 10:1 ratio in favor of the energy transition by 2030.
• Carlyle's portfolio includes significant fossil fuel assets in Europe, specifically five oil and gas companies managing 25 upstream assets and 88 midstream assets, the latter of which are primarily storage terminals with high risks of methane leakage.
• Neptune Energy, a company co-founded by Carlyle in 2015, is expanding its upstream oil and gas assets with 114.1 million barrels of oil equivalent in short-term expansion plans, including operations in the Barents Sea.
• Shareholders of the publicly traded Carlyle Group, including members of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, endorsed the firm's leadership at the most recent Annual General Meeting, with all four director nominees receiving over 94% of the votes cast.
• The document asserts that Carlyle lacks a public fossil fuel policy to make its 2050 net-zero commitment credible and fails to disclose all portfolio emissions across scope 1, 2, and 3.

APA

Martin, L. (2024). Shareholders turn a blind eye to Carlyle's fossil fuel investments. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/01/15/shareholders-turn-a-blind-eye-to-carlyles-fossil-fuel-investments/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. Shareholders turn a blind eye to Carlyle's fossil fuel investments. Reclaim Finance, 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/01/15/shareholders-turn-a-blind-eye-to-carlyles-fossil-fuel-investments/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=Shareholders turn a blind eye to Carlyle's fossil fuel investments |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=15 January 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/01/15/shareholders-turn-a-blind-eye-to-carlyles-fossil-fuel-investments/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2024shareholders, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{Shareholders turn a blind eye to Carlyle's fossil fuel investments}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/01/15/shareholders-turn-a-blind-eye-to-carlyles-fossil-fuel-investments/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }