DATABASE
The Private Equity Energy Tracker
Explore a searchable list of recent energy holdings of eight of the top North American private equity firms
Full Dataset Press Release
Private Equity Energy Tracker
Terms of Use Agreement
By Firm
Note that some of these companies may be joint investments by more than one of the top private equity firms, so the same record may appear on more than one of these lists.
Key Findings
- During 2023, 8 of the top private equity firms were invested in
- at least 116 companies in the fossil fuel industry
- 184 energy companies overall
- PE firms Brookfield and The Carlyle Group owned the largest number of fossil fuel energy companies
- These private equity firms owned fossil fuel companies in at least 17 different countries besides the U.S. including:
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- India
- Brazil
- Spain
- South Korea
- Philippines
Understanding the Database
In the past decade, major private equity firms that have promised to reduce their own climate impact have been quietly investing in fossil fuels, further propelling the climate crisis.[1] For the first time, the Private Equity Climate Risks project has released a list of the energy holdings of eight of the largest private equity firms in North America, compiling their energy deals in one, easy-to-access portal/database. Based on our 2022 Scorecard, these PE firms had at least 80 percent of their energy portfolios in fossil fuels, as of October 2021.
This new dataset will allow investors, policymakers, regulators, researchers, journalists, and the general public to investigate and better understand the role the private equity industry is playing in the continued production and distribution of fossil fuels. Check the Ownership Verification Date to see when we last verified the private equity investor for the company.
The full dataset includes the name of the portfolio company, the parent company (if applicable), and the most recent private equity investors in that company as of 2023. That third field features the private equity firms that were actually behind each of these energy companies. These names can all be used as leads to look into the business practices and environmental records of each of these companies. To see which portfolio companies each of the eight private equity firms (KKR, The Carlyle Group (NGP), Brookfield (Oaktree Capital), The Blackstone Group, TPG Capital, Warburg Pincus, Apollo Global Management or Ares Management) control, see above.
The dataset also features the last deal date (the last time there was a change of ownership or new infusion of investment from at least one of the most recent PE investors) as of the Verification date, which highlights just how recently and frequently these firms have invested in energy, and categorizes each company by its energy type (upstream energy sources; midstream distribution resources; downstream power generation sites; or renewables) and energy sector or source (e.g. oil, gas, coal, or renewable options).
Finally, the dataset includes preliminary information about geography: the headquarters (HQ) location of these energy companies, which span the globe, from Bermuda to Brazil, Mexico to India. Any data we’ve collected—for only a small subset of companies so far—on the specific countries or states of the assets the company owns also shows up here. If a country or state appears more than once in these latter two columns, that means there is more than one asset in that location.
For the companies that corresponded one-to-one with specific assets, we’ve indicated that as well.
If you have questions, leads, or comments about any of these companies or their status, please reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you!
More on Key Findings
All together, the eight private equity firms in the dataset were invested in 116 fossil fuel-based companies, during 2023. These companies owned some of the largest fossil fuel assets in the world, such as Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in Ohio, one of the largest and top-emitting coal-fired power plants in the United States,[2] and the Colonial Pipeline, the United States’ largest refined products pipeline.[3]
With a wide range of holdings, from oil fields to coal-fired power plants to natural gas terminals these eight firms control a significant share of our energy economy. Our data shows that for seven out of eight of these private equity firms—all but TPG—fossil fuel companies make up a majority of each energy portfolio. Their decisions have major implications for our collective ability to move towards a clean energy future.
Brookfield and The Carlyle Group emerged as the biggest owners of fossil fuel energy companies in the list, with 29 and 26 companies, respectively. Blackstone held 17 fossil companies, while KKR held 16, as of late 2023.
The geographic concentration of the holdings also reveals a reliance on the old fossil fuel economy. During 2023, 41 of the 116 portfolio companies, or over 35 percent, were headquartered in Texas, a bastion of the oil and gas industry. The next most frequent headquarters location was Calgary, Canada, where 10 companies were located. Overall, these eight private equity firms owned fossil fuel companies in at least 19 different countries.
Private Equity and the Climate Crisis
Since 2010, private equity firms have invested over one trillion dollars in energy projects and are now under scrutiny for the environmental and climate impact of their investments,[4] which face less regulatory oversight than those of other financial actors, like big banks.
The adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation, such as more frequent and more extreme droughts, prolonged heat waves, flooding, wildfires, long-term health impacts,[5] and large-scale displacement of people,[6] are already here.[7] To curtail the impacts of unabated greenhouse gas emissions, limit average global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius,[8] and reduce air and water pollution, it is imperative to cut the financing flows that enable the extraction, transport, use of, and dependence on fossil fuels. The investment practices of private equity firms must be shifted for these efforts to succeed.
The Private Equity Model Creates An Accountability Vacuum for Community and Climate Harms
Private equity firms are investment companies that raise money from wealthy individuals and institutional investors—such as pension funds or university endowments—to create funds with which private equity firms purchase companies, real estate, natural resources, and other assets.[9] Funds have a typical life span of seven to 10 years. During the first three to five years, the fund makes investments and during the balance, the investments are realized and returns are distributed to investors.[10]
Usually, these investments are accompanied by taking over board seats or management positions in the target portfolio company and running the firm. That’s why the PECR tallied every energy company in which a named private equity firm has made an investment—in this context, private equity firms are not passive investors.
Financially, private equity firms seek to rapidly extract profits out of these new acquisitions before selling them or taking them public.[11] Typically, private equity firms use large amounts of borrowed money to acquire a target company. The debt is then added on to the target company’s balance sheet and the private equity owners often impose a combination of extensive cost cuts, expensive fees, and excessive risk-taking to be able to service the debt while still aiming to generate profit over the course of their holding period,[12] typically five years.[13] Companies can end up bankrupt after a private equity firm has exited the investment.[14]
The industry’s lack of financial accountability is enabled by regulatory loopholes that allow private equity firms to bypass most disclosure requirements and to legally implement complex corporate structures that largely eliminate their liability for portfolio companies’ negligence, malpractice or even government fines and fees.[15]
Private equity firms’ financial extraction, cost-cutting, and evasive practices pose unique risks for their portfolio companies along the fossil fuel supply chain, for those companies’ workers, and for the communities in their vicinity. Financial resources that should go towards capital improvements, maintenance, or retaining adequate levels of qualified staff have at times been siphoned to Wall Street investors, with disastrous consequences.[16] Private equity firms’ lack of investment and disregard of environmental regulations has led to oil spills and air pollution, worker injuries, and pollution from refineries and chemical plants that have spewed contaminants to neighboring communities.[17]
These business practices can intensify harm to low- income communities, communities of color, and Indigenous peoples worldwide. Black, immigrant, Indigenous and low-income communities in North America, alongside residents in other countries with a history of colonial rule are especially at risk. These communities have long been subject to environmental injustices stemming from the location of polluting projects and extractive industries, and they are increasingly vulnerable to climate change.[18] Lack of access to affordable healthcare —exacerbated by the intersection of factors like gender, race, ethnicity, income level, and the history of dispossession and slavery—compounds the problem.[19]
Methodology
Methodology and Research Process for Portfolio Company Verification (Deals and Companies)
Since private equity firms do not provide comprehensive disclosures of current or former investments, the PECR research team has built a data set based on a variety of sources. We conducted an initial query of energy holdings from January 1, 2013 to September 1, 2023 via the private markets data provider Pitchbook.[20] Researchers then drew on company websites, press releases, SEC and other regulatory filings, and news articles to identify additional companies and build a data set of verified private equity portfolio company investments.
Private equity firms invest in portfolio companies through various strategies including leveraged buyouts, majority stake investments, minority stake investments, control or non-control investments, credit or lending investments, joint ventures, via intermediaries or directly, and others. The precise nature of each investment arrangement is often not disclosed, but these investments all provide capital to portfolio companies that enable their operations and the associated emissions and environmental impacts. The 8 firms’ current energy portfolio reflects the private equity firms’ financial interests via any one or more financial strategies listed above to “invest in,” “own,” or “back” each portfolio company, thereby facilitating the activity of the company and its assets, and financing the company’s emissions.
