KKR

KKR is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with $601 billion of AUM as of August 2024. As of the end of July 2024, the firm owned 19 fossil fuels companies, comprising 66 percent of its energy portfolio. In March 2022, KKR reported that it oversees $73 billion in infrastructure assets globally.

KKR has a “Climate Action Strategy” and says it integrates TCFD questions into its internal reporting processes, including collecting emissions information from some portfolio companies. However, KKR has not made robust portfolio-wide emissions reduction commitments, nor has it committed to public disclosure of fossil fuel holdings. In 2022, KKR disclosed only 30,142 metric tons CO2e across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, having excluded emissions from its portfolio companies even though the firm claimed  to separately track financed emissions for at least 90 percent of them. The 2024 Scorecard finds KKR invested in 19 portfolio companies responsible for over an estimated 64 million tons CO2e annually from upstream oil and gas, LNG, and coal-fired power plants, and previous PECR research estimated their total emissions footprint at 93 million tons of CO2e annually. KKR’s 2023 Sustainability Report also has stated that it intends to continue investing in conventional fossil fuel energy projects.

Read the Full Report and View 2024 Scorecard

One key example of KKR’s continued investment in fossil fuels is evident in its formation of Crescent Energy in 2021 as its “primary platform for pursuing upstream oil and natural gas opportunities,” as well as midstream infrastructure. Crescent Energy is KKR’s largest polluter and makes up over a quarter of the firm’s total fossil fuel emissions, even though KKR describes the portfolio company as “advancing smart energy investing” in the firm’s 2022 sustainability report. KKR is also invested in the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline in Canada, where the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs’ opposition has resulted in protests, delays, and blockades. Approximately 190 kilometers of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline cuts through wetlands, cultural lands, and creek land at the center of this territory, but according to some Wet’suwet’en leaders, spokespeople, and allies, the company has forged ahead with the project without receiving permission from all involved tribal authorities. Wet’suwet’en representatives rallied at KKR’s New York City headquarters in September 2023 to highlight their fight for sovereignty and the environmental risks of the project to water and wildlife.

Although the firm’s score improved to a C from a D on the 2022 Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard, KKR has failed to demonstrate meaningful progress on transitioning towards a clean energy portfolio, and continues to engage in the extraction of resources and wealth from marginalized communities under the opacity that is inherent to private equity