Blackstone Inc.

Blackstone Inc. is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than one trillion dollars in AUM and led by Stephen Schwarzman. As of the end of July 2024, Blackstone backed 17 fossil fuel companies, representing 85 percent of the companies in its energy portfolio.

The firm’s shallow climate commitments and continued investments in dirty assets land Blackstone a C on the Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard.

Blackstone has committed to decarbonization targets for existing assets and has placed restrictions on future investments. In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Blackstone would not pursue upstream exploration and production assets in its next energy or credit funds, but that it would continue to make future investments in companies that transport oil and gas (midstream assets like pipelines and LNG terminals) or those that turn fuel into other products (downstream assets).

Read the Full Report and View 2024 Scorecard

Blackstone’s slow-moving decarbonization process leaves one of the most toxic polluters in the United States in its portfolio, the 50 year-old General J.M. Gavin coal plant. Gavin was the ninth top emitting power plant in the country as of 2022 and the largest coal-fired power plant owned by Blackstone. Blackstone has not announced retirement or transition plans for Gavin. According to Sierra Club research, Gavin is responsible for an estimated 244 premature deaths a year, and Blackstone’s failure to retire the aging plant prolongs the risk for future negative health impacts resulting from toxic Gavin pollution.

To date, Blackstone’s transition policy does not specify how the firm plans to reduce emissions in its existing fossil fuel portfolio of downstream, midstream, and upstream assets. The firm plans to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15 percent starting from 2021 according to its’ 2023 Climate-related Financial Disclosures report.