Cashing in on Climate Crisis

Carlyle's Investments Hurt
Communities & the Environment

The Carlyle Group is heavily invested in fossil fuel projects that drive climate change. They have among the largest fossil fuel portfolios and their energy portfolio fuels major environmental problems. In 2020 alone, its downstream power plants emitted over 10.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Carlyle had a joint venture partnership with Hilcorp Energy, the dirtiest private oil company in the US. Hilcorp was found to be the country’s largest known emitter of methane, reporting nearly 50% more emissions from its operations than the nation's biggest fossil fuel producer, ExxonMobil.

Hilcorp bought $3 billion in assets from oil giant ConocoPhillips, and all of BP’s operations and interests in Alaska. The state, warming twice as fast as the global average, suffers under Hilcorp, whose leaky underwater oil pipeline in Alaska threatens precious wildlife. Hilcorp has also contributed to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, spilling 4,200 gallons of oil in the waters of Louisiana. Even with Hilcorp’s track record, Carlyle said it was “thrilled” to partner with the company in a joint drilling venture.

Carlyle has been tied to even more environmental injustices. Rubenstein’s firm is the former majority stakeholder of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery, a now shuttered oil refinery standing over the predominantly Black neighborhood of Grays Ferry in South Philadelphia. The struggle of Grays Ferry residents to hold the refinery to account was documented in a July 2020 front-page New York Times Magazine investigation entitled “Pollution Is Killing Black Americans. This Community Fought Back.”

Carlyle’s partnership with companies like Hilcorp, PES, and NGP, which have poor environmental track records, raises serious concerns about the firm’s commitment to its green energy goals.