Private Equity Stakeholder Project, the Sierra Club, and Other Climate Groups: Private Equity Firms Must Disclose Emissions, Transition away from Fossil Fuels, and Disclose Political Spending and Lobbying Efforts
March 18, 2021
Two dozen climate justice organizations are calling upon private equity firms to develop a plan with clear benchmarks to shift to pollution-free energy portfolios; plan for a just transition for workers and communities impacted by current fossil fuel holdings; and disclose all political spending and whether it aligns with a 1.5 degree scenario as in the Paris Agreement.
The signatories — organizations working on climate justice, including Greenpeace, and The Sierra Club and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project — released letters to 14 private equity firms demanding they stop funding climate destruction.
Private equity firms oversee billions of dollars and as major financial players with substantial investments in fossil fuels, the climate justice organizations are calling on them to do their part in mitigating climate disaster. Private equity has a responsibility to transition our economy away from fossil fuel disaster and toward a just, regenerative economy.
The letters call for public disclosure of the direct and indirect emissions from private equity investments should be disclosed to the public, as well as a transition plan away from fossil fuel investments by 2030.
This request echoes demands from shareholders to publicly traded companies in energy and finance like Exxon Mobile and JP Morgan.
These organizations wrote that Black, Indigenous, low-income and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the oppressive and often deadly results of climate change, and are also driving the frontlines of solutions to the climate crisis, the groups are demanding that private equity firms respect human rights, Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Signatories of these letters include 350 Charlotte, 350 Colorado, 350Hawaii, 350PDX, 350 Silicon Valley, Call to Action Colorado, Catholic Network.US, CCAG, Climate First!, Climate First!, Inc., Colorado Businesses for a Livable Climate, Colorado Democratic Party, Earth Action, Inc., Earthworks, Energy & Environment Initiative, FreshWater Accountability Project, Greenpeace US, Mazaska Talks, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, RapidShift.Network, Rising Tide Chicago, Sierra Club, SoCal 350 Climate Action, Venner Consulting and NYC City Council Member Brad Lander.
Letters were sent to Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, EIG Global Energy Partners, Encap, Global Infrastructure, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, KKR, Macquarie Infrastructure, Oaktree, Riverstone Holdings, TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus.
