Leading asset owners across the globe are working to support real world emissions reductions and transition energy assets to achieve warming well under 2 degrees Celsius.[1] As extreme weather and climate impacts accelerate, the economic and financial impacts are growing,[2] and every corner of the capital markets is affected.[3] The investment opportunity in the energy transition is enormous – but the past decade’s multiple energy shocks and recently accelerating energy demand, coupled with current political retrenchment on climate, has triggered dizzying shifts.[4]
As asset owners strive to align their portfolios with science-based climate targets and steer decarbonization in the real economy, they are engaging across public and private asset classes. The UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance has called on private markets managers to elevate their climate ambitions, saying, “For asset managers in private markets to robustly represent their clients’ long-term interests, they should integrate climate change considerations across all their business activities, including investment decisions.”[5]
In particular, private equity and infrastructure investors have extensive exposure to a range of energy assets. Although they could be positioned to scale up renewable power generation and to guide portfolio companies toward decarbonization, to date private funds managers have lagged in making credible climate commitments, meaningful disclosures, or transitioning their portfolios. Instead, research from the Private Equity Climate Risks consortium found that many large private equity and infrastructure firms continue to build energy portfolios dominated by conventional fossil fuels without clear pathways to a clean energy future.[6]
As institutional investors continue to evolve their policies and approaches, the following private markets climate toolkit is offered as a resource.[7] We will continue to review and adapt these recommendations as we monitor progress and the field develops, and we welcome input on best practices and effective policy guidance. Investors are encouraged to engage managers around their climate policies as well as their governance practices to ensure effective implementation protocols, compliance, and accountability.
The investor resources include:
- Climate Standards for limited partners
- Energy Transition Due Diligence Questionnaire with detailed questions to ask managers as a tool for due diligence, data collection, and monitoring
- Investor Climate Policy Comparison highlights some of the leading climate policies by large institutional investors
[1] UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and UN Environmental Program Finance Initiative (UNEPFI) Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) is comprised of 85 asset owners managing $9.2 trillion in assets under management which are “committed to individually transitioning their own investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C.”
[2] Carbon Disclosure Project, Extreme Weather Risk is Reshaping the Global Economy to the Tune of Over US$700 Billion in Projected Losses, May 12, 2026.
[3] Time, Climate’s Compounding Financial Toll Is Becoming Harder to Ignore, July 18, 2026.
[4] Per Bloomberg NEF’s New Energy Outlook 2026, global energy transition investment reached a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, but investment required to achieve Net Zero is $235 trillion by 2050. See also World Resources Institute, The State of Clean Energy in 10 Charts, Dec. 2025.
[5] UN convened NZAOA, Call to Action to Private Markets Managers, Nov. 2022.
[6] Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard 2026 developed by the PECR research consortium comprised of researchers from Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Global Energy Monitor, and Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
[7] These standards are adapted from the Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard 2026 developed by the PECR research consortium, the UN convened NZAOA “Call to Action to Private Markets Managers” as well as consideration of evolving trends in energy investments, essential infrastructure ownership, energy demand and climate solutions.
